Berenice Mae Collins

Berenice Mayer was born on March 12, 1925 in Dawson, North Dakota to Leo and Effie (Dodds) Mayer. The family later moved to Steele, North Dakota, where Bea attended school, graduating from Steele High School in 1943. During her childhood, Bea was stricken with Polio. However, she never allowed this to dampen her spirit or her love of being the neighborhood tom-boy. Most often she could also be found working side-by-side with her dad in the family store; numbers were her passion so she was taught the bookkeeping practices of the family business. After graduating from high school, Bea attended North Dakota State University where she proudly played in the Gold Star Concert Band.

In 1946, Bea married Harold (Stub) Collins, the love of her life. She was fond of telling everyone that they met and fell in love at the age of two when Harold pushed her down a flight of stairs while their mothers were having coffee together. They lived in Steele where Bea continued to work in the family store and Harold operated Stub’s Corner Bar. In 1952, they moved to St. Paul where they raised their three children; Twyla, Rick, and Doug. Bea was very active in her children’s activities as well as in several community organizations such as League of Women Voters, PTA, and Master Gardening Club. Later the family moved to Montevideo, New Ulm, and Moorhead for Harold’s work with Montgomery Wards. After moving to Moorhead, Bea became very active in the Moorhead Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star. After Harold’s retirement in 1986, they moved permanently to Mesa, Arizona, where they co-owned and co-operated a condominium management business for several years. They later moved to Sun City West. After Harold’s death in 1996, Bea moved back to Mesa, Arizona, and then to Fargo in 2010. For the past several years she had enjoyed life at

Touchmark at Harwood where she was active in a variety of social events such as Bingo, Bridge, Cribbage, Trivia, and Pinochle. Her quick wit and “one liners” were her trademarks at Touchmark. What she enjoyed most was having her great-children (Zander, Peyton, and Parker) and honorary great-grandchild, Otis Spiess, come to play Bingo with her. Her enjoyment in watching their excitement when they won was something she talked about often. Her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will remember her homemade bread and caramel rolls, German Kuchen, sour cream sugar cookies, and marshmallow fudge bars. Bea was quite the knitter and took great pride in knitting each of her children and grandchildren a beautiful Christmas stocking, each of them very different and unique.

Bea is survived by her three children, Dr. Twyla (Dr. Bob) Nielsen of Pelican Rapids, MN, Rick (Bonnie Berg) Collins of St. Louis Park, MN, and Doug (Vanessa Castagna) of Dallas, TX, six grandchildren, Chris (LaRoux) Klein of Denver, Co, Trevor (Laura) Klein of Elk River, MN, Jessica Klein of Fargo, Casey (Megan) Collins of Minneapolis, MN, Rory Collins and Lacey Stevick, both of Minot, ND, and 13 great-grandchildren (Zander, Peyton, Parker, Clay, Otis, Mia, Sofia, Liva, Joseph, Jack, Selia, Elise, and Isla), her sister, Ruth Gray of Mandan, brother-in-law Larry (Sue) Collins of Owatonna, MN., her best friend for over 50 years, Joyce Coleman of Virginia Beach, VA. and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her soulmate and husband, Harold, and her parents, Leo and Effie Mayer.

In lieu of flowers please consider donating to the North Dakota Veterans’ Cemetery in Mandan, North Dakota, the Red River Valley Hospice, or the Ronald McDonald Foundation of Fargo.

Internment will be a private service at the North Dakota Veterans’ Cemetery, where Bea will be laid to rest with her forever sweetheart, Harold.

Bea’s family would like to thank the staff and all of Bea’s friends at Touchmark and Red River Valley Hospice for their dedication to the physical and emotional care of their mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Bea was very blessed to have so many loving people in her life, especially Kaitlyn, Brittney, Kristin, and Alissah who spent hours with Bea as she experienced her end of life journey.