Services are Thursday for Barbara Collins, 71, wife of Fountain Valley mayor pro tem

Services are scheduled for Thursday for Barbara Collins, wife of Fountain Valley Mayor Pro Tem John Collins, following her death Nov. 2 after an eight-year struggle with bladder cancer. She was 71.

A service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 17270 Ward St., Fountain Valley, with a graveside service following at Good Shepherd Cemetery, 8301 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach.

A reception will be held at the Fellowship Hall at Holy Spirit Catholic Church.

Barbara Collins, a Rhode Island native, met her husband while attending Northeastern University in Boston. She earned a biochemistry degree and later a master’s in finance. The two married in Boston in 1968 and soon had their first child, Billy, in Virginia.

Barbara Collins worked as a financial analyst and later for the Orange County Sanitation District.

Fountain Valley residents got to know her at park concerts, mayor’s balls and other community events.

John Collins said one of his fondest memories is of he and his wife taking trips to Laughlin, Nev., and staying at the Harrah’s hotel.

“Harrah’s has a veranda that overlooked the ... mountains with jagged views,” he said. “It was a great way to get away from everything.”

The couple couldn’t visit Laughlin as often as they did before Barbara’s diagnosis, but they took their last trip together earlier this year.

“Our kids are all grown up, so it was just us,” John said. “We enjoyed the little things like watching ‘Family Feud’ and ‘Jeopardy.’ We’d watch it and try to guess the answers.”

Barbara is survived by her husband, their three children, Billy, Bobby and Karen, and five grandchildren.