Joseph C. Collins
2008
Joseph Cyril Collins, 85, a life insurance agent with Aetna from 1960 to 1984 who then ran his own insurance brokerage specializing in business products, died Sept. 23 in his home in Darnestown after a stroke.
Mr. Collins was born in Scranton, Pa., and moved to the Washington area as a youth. He attended  St. John's College High School and was  working as a Western Union messenger in the Capitol when President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war on Japan, marking the U.S. entry into World War II.
During the war, Mr. Collins served in the Army in Europe as a radar and  special vehicle operator. After his discharge, he started several businesses in  Los Angeles before returning to Washington in 1958 to work in appliance and  business machine sales.    He was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Kensington and drove the church bus for its youth group. After he moved to Darnestown in 1985, Mr. Collins volunteered for Meals on Wheels.
His hobbies included sailing and camping.
Survivors include his wife of 41 years, Barbara Collins of Darnestown; three daughters, Kellie Collins Hodges, Jennifer Collins and Amy Collins, all of Germantown; a brother, William Collins of Hagerstown; a sister, Janice Derby of Raleigh, N.C.; and four grandchildren.
-- Patricia Sullivan