Patricia E. Collins

Patricia E. Collins (Pat) passed away on Wednesday April 22nd, of natural causes. She had been struggling for days on a ventilator and her passing was a blessing. Pat was born in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on June 13, 1934. She had two brothers and two sisters, all deceased except for her younger sister Ms. Mary Lou McCune, living in South Carolina. After graduating from St. Savior Academy near her home she went on to an Airline Training school in Kansas City. She was then offered a position at Eastern Airlines and was off to Kennedy Airport in NY City. Those were tough times for the airlines, when Eastern went bankrupt Pat moved on to Pan American World Airways and finished her career with Braniff. Pat had a wonderful 30 plus years in the industry before she retired. While Pat was attending the training school, Donald Collins, her future husband, had just graduated from Cornell University as an Electrical Engineer and was completing a two-year military obligation, as a 1st Lieutenant in the US Army Signal Corp. He was assigned to the Signal Corp Pictorial Center in Astoria, Queens. There were no officers’ quarters, so Don shared an apartment in the well-known “Curson” apartment building. Many airline employees, including Pat, were staying there as well. Pat and Don met at one of the many parties held in the complex, fell in love, and were married on March 13, 1956. After Don was discharged, he started a career in the Engineering Department of the ABC TV network. He left ABC after being offered an opportunity to design and build the first Education TV Station in NYC where he continued to be employed for seven years as Chief Engineer. Ampex, designed the first video tape recording machines and 3 M the video tape. They then recruited Don to design and build their video tape production facilities which allowed them to produce video tape productions to compete with film. Videotape Productions of New York was formed, and Don was VP of Engineering for 17 years. Later, Don was offered the opportunity to sell a new line at TV broadcast Zoom Lenses, developed by The Jose Schneider Optical Company located in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. Don accepted and was offered exclusive rights to North America. Don’s business grew and prospered. Later, after Braniff went bankrupt, Pat decided to retire. Don sold the business and joined Pat in retirement. They spent the next years cruising the rivers of Europe and China until Pat got sick. Don kept hoping she would get better and they could have one more adventure together. Pat loved children, was well liked, had a great sense of humor and will be missed by all.