CARIBOU, Maine — Patricia Collins, mother of U.S. Sen. Susan M. Collins and her five siblings, died Tuesday. She was 96.
Collins was born in Colombia, South America, the daughter of Joseph and Helen (Foskett) McGuigan, and later moved to New York. She came north to attend the University of Maine, according to her obituary.
Collins served in both state and community roles, and was the first female mayor elected in Caribou.
Collins served on the University of Maine System Board of Trustees from 1987-97 and in 1991 became only the second woman to serve as board chair.
She obtained a math degree from UMaine in Orono.
She married Donald F. Collins of Caribou in 1948. The couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in 2018, just prior to her husband’s death at the age of 92.
Collins was also a painter and photographer, having earned a degree in art from the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Her grandfather taught her to paint, and she completed portraits of her husband and his fellow Maine senators, along with other subject matter.
She wanted to bake homemade bread for her husband, so delved into cooking and eventually wrote two cookbooks, “Fifty Years of Cooking 1948-1998” and “Encore 1998-2010.”
She served on the Caribou School Board, was chair of the Maine Committee for Judicial Responsibility and Disability, a member of the Board of Visitors at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, a member of the advisory committee of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, a court-appointed special advocate for children, chair of the Catholic Charities Maine Board of Directors and the Catholic Foundation of Maine Board of Trustees, and one of two New England representatives to the National Advisory Council of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to her obituary.
She also directed religious education programming at Holy Rosary Church in Caribou for nine years.
“My family is mourning the loss of our mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Pat Collins, who died today at age 96,” Sen. Susan Collins said.
She was dedicated to her family, church, community, and state, the senator said.
“My mother was also an extraordinarily talented artist who painted watercolor portraits and a fabulous cook who published two cookbooks. We all will miss her so much.”
The couple’s six children survive: Kathleen Wiesendanger of South Portland; Michael, and his wife, Debbie, of Saco; Susan, and her husband, Thomas Daffron, of Bangor; Nancy, and her husband, Richard Sperry, of Haverford, Pennsylvania; Samuel, and his wife, Lise, of Caribou; and Gregg, and his wife, Lori, also of Caribou.
Also surviving are 11 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren, Collins’ obituary stated.