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April 23
Russell E. Collins, Jr.

April 15, 2008

Russell E. Collins, Jr., died Tuesday, April 15 at the Gino Merli Veterans Center. He and his wife, the former Mary Connerton, would have been married for 60 years on June 5.

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Born in Toledo, Ohio on September 11, 1921, son of the late Russell E. Collins Sr. and Helen Coggins Collins, he moved to Glenburn at the age of two, where he spent most of his life. He graduated from South Kent School, Kent, CT, class of 1943. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II as a pilot and flight instructor. After his discharge, he studied accounting at the University of Scranton. He founded Collins and Company Accountants in 1951. He was a certified public accountant and member of the PA Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was a member of Our Lady of the Snows Church. He was a survivor of both colon and liver cancer, and volunteered in the Mercy Hospital Oncology Department. His positive outlook and “Don’t ever give up” slogan inspired thousands of patients over the years. He loved his family and friends and enjoyed spending time in Canada every summer with his children and grandchildren and his boat. He loved to sign, and instilling this love of music in his children. He enjoyed tennis, fly fishing, and boating. The family would like to extend a special thank you to the entire staff at Gino Merli Veterans Center for the wonderful care and compassion they provided.

Also surviving are a son, Russell E. Collins III, and his wife Karin, Scranton; five daughters, Dorothy Nally, and her husband Jim, Tunkhannock, Marcie Ewasko, and her husband, Tony “Butch”, Casselberry, FL, Lucille Ims, and her husband, Ed, Glenburn, Laurie Klein, and her husband, Jim, Clarks Summit and Mary Louise Baxley, Winter Springs, FL; 13 grandchildren and great- grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian burial was to be Saturday, April 19 from St. Benedict’s Church, Newton Ransom Blvd., Newton Twp. Interment Hickory Grove cemetery. Arrangements from the Lawrence E. Young Funeral Home, 418 S. State St. Clarks Summit. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Gino Merli Recreation Fund, 401 Penn Ave. Scranton, PA18503. For directions or to sign the online guest book, go to www.lawrenceeyoung.com.