On Friday, June 30, Carole Jean Heseltine Collins passed away peacefully at home in the arms of family.
Family was a big part of Carole’s life. She was born March 22, 1945 in South Portland, Maine. Living in the Southern Maine area for most of her life, she started her own family at a young age and was the mother of nine children, three girls and six boys. Hardworking, intelligent, and determined to help everyone become their best, Carole’s maternal instinct went beyond raising her own children. For 20 years, she volunteered her decades of experience at horseback riding to the Carlisle Academy for Equine Therapy and Sports in Lyman, Maine helping those with impairments and disability with therapeutic riding lessons. She also dedicated 13 years to the University of Southern Maine Upward Bound Dollars for Scholars Program. This program provides much needed college scholarships to deserving students in the Upward Bound program.
Carole’s other passions include auto and horse racing. From Daytona to Churchill Downs, Beech Ridge to Indianapolis, you could always assume that she was tuned in via television or at the track itself. She was a season ticket holder to several large NASCAR tracks and thought nothing of driving cross country to one of them for the weekend. She would generally add an off track vacation to these trips, seeing Niagara Falls or Assateague Island or the Grand Canyon along the way. More than likely, she put new additions in her Facebook family on these trips as well.
Carole will be buried alongside her eldest son, Charles Blow of Ormond Beach, Fl, at a public ceremony in Highland Grove Cemetery in North Shapleigh, Maine on July 16th at 1 PM.
She is survived by her daughters Lisa Collins of Old Orchard Beach, Me, Carole Brocher of Sanford, Me, Fury Rogers of North Shapleigh, Me, and her sons Tom Blow of North Shapleigh, Me, Gordon Collins of Westbrook, Me, Donald Blow of Ocala, Fl, Duncan Blow of Sanford, Me, and John Blow of Sturbridge, Ma. She also has too many grand and great grand children to list.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Upward Bound Dollars for Scholars program at the University of Southern Maine with the following link. Please write “Carole” in the memorial line or scholarship name.
http://www.upwardbound-usm.dollarsforscholars.org/index.php?section=chapterWebsite&action=news&fwID=1034&cmsID=45281&cmsIDck=f6a7bdcb7d0635abe18d6f1de87cb2ef
Arrangements have been entrusted to Chad E. Poitras Cremation and Funeral Service, Buxton, www.mainefuneral.com