Gladys Bienko Collins

May 22, 2012 Last Updated: May 22, 2012 04:01 PM Death Notice

Gladys Bienko Collins, 89, a former resident of Laurel Lane in Valencia, died peacefully of natural causes April 5 at Health Village Retirement Community in Hackettstown, N.J.

Gladys was born Ladislava Pauline Bienko, nicknamed Lottie, on Feb. 27, 1923, in Oil City, to Joseph and Anna Bienko, as the fifth of six children, Stanley, Caroline, Julian, Celia and Susan. Her younger sister, Susan, survives her.

Gladys graduated from Oil City High School in 1941.

After graduation, Gladys moved to Pittsburgh and took part in the war effort working at the Process Specialties Co., where she met and fell in love with Homer McDonald Collins. She and Homer were married on June 25, 1944, in Pittsburgh. They had two sons, Homer Henry and George Joseph Collins.

After the war, her husband, Homer, joined Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University. He was active in the design and construction of the university's cyclotron particle accelerator and nuclear research facility near Saxonburg. In 1953, Gladys and Homer moved from Pittsburgh and built their home on Laurel Lane in Valencia, in which Gladys lovingly raised her family and lived for 54 years.

During those years, Gladys was active in the Holy Sepulcher Parish. She also was active in the schooling of her sons, participating in the Middlesex Township PTA, the Mars High Band Boosters and supporting other school activities while her sons attended Mars High School. Gladys also was very active, with her husband, in Boy Scouts Troop 58 activities.

Along with her family, Gladys traveled extensively throughout the United States, camping in many national and state parks. She loved travel and seeing the U.S. and visited 32 of the 48 contiguous states.

Gladys worked at the H.P. Starr Lumber Co. in Glade Mills and the Collins-McLaughlin Specialty Machine Shop in Valencia.

Gladys lost her beloved husband, Homer, on Feb. 20, 1996, and moved to the Heath Village Retirement Community in 2007, where she passed away. Her two sons, Homer of Naperville, Ill., and George of Califon, N.J., and six grandchildren survive.

<B>COLLINS</B> — Friends of Gladys Bienko Collins, who died Thursday, April 5, 2012, will be received at the <B>McDonald-Aeberli Funeral Home</B>, 238 Crowe Ave., Mars, from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 27. A Mass of Christian burial in the Holy Sepulcher Roman Catholic Church, 1304 E. Cruikshank Road, Butler, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 28, with the Rev. John Gizler III, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Glade Run Cemetery, Middlesex Township.Information and directions are available at www.mcdonald-aeberli.com.