Gene Rae Keister Collins, age 100, of Washington, Iowa, formerly of Brooksville, Florida, and Perham, Minnesota, passed away Saturday, December 14, 2024, at Halcyon House under hospice care.
Memorial services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, December 17, 2024, at the Jones & Eden Funeral Home with Pastor Darryl Carr officiating. Private family interment will take place at the Morgan Township Cemetery in rural Dows, Iowa. Memorials have been established for the Halcyon House Good Samaritan Fund. Online condolences may be sent for Gene’s family at www.jonesfh.com.
Gene was born May 14, 1924, in Hayfield, Iowa, the daughter of Geraldo Harvey and Gertrude Autherine (Rankin) Keister. She attended school in Mason City, Iowa graduating from Mason City High School in 1942. Gene received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics from Iowa State University in 1946. She was united in marriage to Ralph Lee Collins on June 30, 1945, in Modesto, California. Ralph passed away in 2008.
Gene and Ralph owned and operated Coney Island Restaurant in Brooksville, Florida, for 13 years. Following her retirement, Gene and Ralph spent two years in the Peace Corps serving in the Fiji Islands. Gene was a member of the Methodist Church, Order of the Eastern Star, the Brooksville Women’s Club, the Brooksville Pilots Club, Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) and the Red Hat Society. She enjoyed traveling and did a trip around the world, where she visited many countries and many states.
She will be missed by her three sons: Stephen Collins of Middleburg, Florida, Thomas Collins of Brooksville, Florida, and John (Cheryl) Collins of Swisher, Iowa; along with several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
Gene was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Ralph, in 2008; sister, Geraldine Ruth Keister Miller; brother, George Benjamin Keister; two daughters-in-law, Mary Coatney Collins and Mable Lee Collins; brother-in-law, Marvin Miller and sister-in-law, Elizabeth Broadbent Keister.