Carol Collins completed her remarkable life journey on March 1, 2025. She was born in Great Falls on October 2, 1937, to Bill and Ethel Haney and grew up with her older brother and grandmother in a two-story house on the north side of town near Gibson Park. Joy and laughter filled her childhood home, and she enjoyed swimming, boating, picnicking, camping, sledding and ice skating with family and friends. Her mother worked at Kranz House of Flowers. Her father was the circulation manager for the Great Falls Tribune and also a magician and entertainer. As a child, Carol created flyers to help him advertise his shows. She studied art with Sister Raphael at the Ursuline Academy and became a life-long artist. She played the drums and sang in choir at her school and church.
At age 17 she married Gerald Collins, who lived and worked on his family’s farm near Brady, Montana, and who was so painfully shy they only got to know each other through weekly letters. They eventually raised four daughters who were encouraged to be creative and independent. Carol involved them in art projects, the love of books and learning, music and singing. Her daughters had free reign to plan and produce a Christmas pageant every year to entertain the adults. And Carol always had art supplies, dress-up clothes, and bandages readily available for the adventures of her daughters and their friends. She made costumes. She baked. She made heart-shaped sugar cookies on Valentine’s Day for each student in her daughter’s elementary classrooms, as well as the teachers and custodians.
She was involved in PTA, Girl Scouts, Blue Birds and 4-H and so much more. As a woman of strong convictions, she became a force to be reckoned with. She helped start the first humane society in Great Falls when the only option for stray and unwanted pets was a shelter where animals were destroyed after a short stay. Her love of animals led her to become a vegetarian along with two of her daughters. She wrote letters to the editor about civil rights, justice, environmental concerns, and the danger of nuclear proliferation. She became active in the local peace movement, marching and protesting. She went to jail for crossing the line at Malmstrom along with a group of like-minded protesters. She welcomed exchange students and visiting peace activists into her home and fostered a child from Vietnam who became a brother to her girls.
Carol began volunteering at Hospice following the death of her oldest daughter, Nona, to leukemia and later became Volunteer Coordinator. She fulfilled her lifelong dream of going to college in her 50s where she studied comparative religion and then entered chaplaincy training to become Hospice Chaplain at age 56. Carol was the first chaplain of Peace Hospice House in Great Falls. After retiring, she continued to volunteer at Camp Francis where she led music circles with children and young adults who had lost loved ones.
In recent years, dementia took Carol slowly away from her family but never diminished her loving soul or her love of art and music. She ended her days at the very Peace Hospice where she worked, with her room overlooking a labyrinth she helped design along with a memorial to her oldest daughter, Nona. Her life was full circle, fueled by her strong convictions, filled with love, laughter, music and poetry. Those of us who have known and loved her will never forget her. And her courageous spirit will be with us always.
Carol is survived by her children, Leslie Collins, Jeannie Collins-Brandon and Janis Collins; sons in law, Mike Reynolds and Rod Brandon; grandchildren, Nathan Ronquillo, Tanner Collins, Jordan Brandon, Makenzie Brandon, and Adrian Brandon; great-grandchildren, Isaiah Ronquillo, Lalelei Talamaivao-Ronquillo, Caroline Collins, Nolan Brandon, Easton Brandon and Georgia Brandon. She was preceded in death by her husband, Gerald Collins, daughter Nona Collins, mother Ethel Haney, father William (Bill) Haney, and brother William (Bill) Haney Jr.
A Celebration of Life for Carol will be held on Saturday, April 26, at 11 AM at Croxford Funeral Home.
Author: Staff
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