Obituary of Louise Elizabeth Collins

Louise Elizabeth Collins (née McAlpin) passed away on November 12, 2021 at the age of 86. She joins in heaven, after 47 long years, her husband, Jay. She is also reunited with her brother, Harry McAlpin, her beloved mother, Gertrude McAlpin, her father, Elmer McAlpin, and many cats and kittens that she loved so very much.

She is survived by her sisters, Catherine Costa and Mary (Joseph) Taylor, her four children, Louise (Don) Knoll, Karen Wyatt (Michael), James (Patty) Collins, and Michael (Sue) Collins as well as her grandchildren Daniel (Ashley), Frank (Tree), Zach, Laura (Ken), Jay, Matthew (Nicole), Lindsey, and Randy, 9 great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She was proud of her family and once remarked at a party, “Look at all these pretty people I made!”

Louise was born in South Philly in 1935. She would reminisce about growing up in the naval housing, which was brand new and beautiful at the time, and how her mother worked to keep everything pristine (a trait Louise carried herself).

She started working at a young age - she’d have to be weighed weekly in order to be permitted to work! Some time after moving to southern New Jersey, marrying her husband, Jay, and having their four children, Louise went back to school to become an LPN. She worked at Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Stratford, NJ for 32 years on the maternity floor. Louise loved babies and was a godsend to the new moms for whom she cared.

Louise was a woman of fortitude. She was smart and she was loving and she was tough. We will miss her every day.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend her viewing on Thursday morning from 9:00AM to 10:30AM at the COSTANTINO-PRIMO FUNERAL HOME, 231 W. WHITE HORSE PIKE BERLIN NJ 08009. Mass of Christian Burial 11:00AM at Christ the Redeemer Parish Assumption Church, 318 Carl Hasselhan Dr., Atco NJ 08004. Interment Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Berlin NJ. To leave lasting condolences or photos, please use the links on this page.