Gertrude Baillie Collins

Gertrude Baillie Collins, who resided in Baldwinsville until the age of 97, passed away at
the Loretto Health and Rehabilitation Center in Syracuse, on Thursday, April 5. She was
106 years old.
Gert was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Sept. 13, 1917. At the age of 12, she, her mother,
the late Mary Baillie, and her brother, the late George Baillie, joined her father who
immigrated to the United States ahead of his family. She grew up in the Bay Ridge area
of Brooklyn, NY, and worked for a time at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in
Manhattan.
She met her beloved husband, the late Raymond Douglas Collins, Sr., at a church
young people’s social group in Bay Ridge. They were married almost 50 years, until his
death in 1989. After World War II, where Ray served in the military, the family moved to
Staten Island, Troy, Pearl River, and West Sand Lake, settling in Baldwinsville in the
1950s.
The couple were active in the Baldwinsville Theatre Guild where she assisted
backstage while Ray would sometimes join the cast. They played bridge weekly with
friends. She enjoyed crocheting, embroidery, and needlepoint. For a time, she worked
part-time at Edwards Department Store in Syracuse. She was also an active member of
the Baldwinsville First United Methodist Church, which she attended faithfully and took
part in church groups, often in fund-raising projects for the church. Gert enjoyed
walking, most days for two or three miles a day, no matter the weather, meeting friends
in Baldwinsville for coffee.
Gert and Ray were avid travelers after he retired, taking their RV on numerous trips
around the US and across Canada. They also traveled abroad including many trips
back to her beloved Scotland. Into her late 80s, after Ray had passed away, Gert loved
adventure, taking a train alone to visit her granddaughter in New York City.
Before everything else, however, Gert was a devoted mother to children James Henry
Collins, Patricia Collins Kline, and the late Raymond Douglas Collins, Jr.
She is survived by son James Collins and wife Anna Marie Collins, daughter Patricia
Kline and husband Rudy, daughter-in-law Mollie Leitzes; and grandchildren James and
Bridget Collins, Jesse Collins, Nicholas and Michele Collins, Sarah Collins and Aaron
Fowler, Amanda Kline Kisselstein and Jeffrey Kisselstein, Abigail Collins Thistle and
Mark Thistle, and Tamara Kline Zapf and Alexander Zapf. She also is survived by 13
great grandchildren.
There will be a gathering of friends and family to remember Gert in May at the
Baldwinsville Methodist Church, the date and time to be announced. Gates Funeral
Home, Baldwinsville, is in charge of arrangements. Interment of Gert’s ashes will be at
Riverview Cemetery, next to husband Ray.

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