Obituary of Kathryn M. Collins

Kathryn Margaret (McLoughlin) Collins, 76, of Newtown, devoted wife of the late Neil V. Collins, died peacefully at Regional Hospice in Danbury, CT on Friday, December 17, 2021. She was born in Bronx, NY on March 13, 1945, daughter of the late Joseph and Jane (Healy) McLoughlin. She grew up in Larchmont, NY, and graduated from St. Augustine and Ursuline Schools, and later attended Marymount College. Kathryn was also formerly of Greenburgh, NY and Basking Ridge, NJ, where she and Neil raised their daughters and created lasting, fun-loving memories with family and friends.

Inspired by her grandmother, Kitty, who shared her love of poetry with her as a child, Kathy was a talented poet. In addition to sharing her work with her family, she published a book of her own original poetry, "No Need for Breadcrumbs", in 2005. In it she writes, “The goal of my poetry is easing responses to that which cripples us, to portray happiness and pain all as part of the beauty of living, I’m neither pessimistic nor optimistic. Instead I’m somewhere in the land of trying to stay in today and see what happens next.”

The words and sentiment in her poetry will be cherished forever. Kathryn and her gentle heart will be greatly missed by her daughter, Colette Collins Woelfle and her husband, Steven; her adored grandchildren "until the end of time," Timothy and Grace Woelfle; and her brother, John “Jack” McLoughlin. She is also survived by her brothers and sisters-in-law, whom she loved as her own, William and Lynn Collins, Edward Collins and Pamela Ward, Catherine and John Emmanuel, Carolyn and Michael Kostiw, Michael and Sandy Collins, Rosemary and Terry Weiss, Tracy Collins and David Williams; and many loved cousins, nieces, nephews, and their children. She will be missed by her many treasured friends, including those lifelong from childhood, those cherished from younger years, and those held dear from her more recent years in Connecticut and at Liberty in Newtown.

In addition to her late husband Neil, she is reunited in Heaven with her daughter, Jeanne Marie Collins; brother, Robert “Bobby” McLoughlin; and brother-in-law, Patrick Collins.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Augustine's Church in Larchmont, NY and interment held at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, for family and close friends, at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please help bring end-of-life care to others in need through a memorial donation in Kathryn Collins’ name to Regional Hospice, 30 Milestone Rd., Danbury, CT 06810 or online at regionalhospicect.org or to St Jude Children’s Research, 501 St Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or online at donors@stjude.org.