Marie Collier, 72

Marie Collier, of Dalton Gardens, passed away on Monday, April 15, 2013. She had lived in California and Georgia before settling in Idaho in 2003.

Marie was born in Trenton, N.J., on June 2, 1940. She moved to Glendale, Calif., in 1948. She graduated from Hoover High School and took a job at a local bank soon after. She had the memorable experience of being held up at the bank and could laugh about it years later!

In 1962, she met her future husband, Jim, who was serving in the Army; they married two years later. Their son, Tom, was born the following year and his brother, Frank, came along four years later. Marie was a devoted mother who was a member of the PTA and the team Mom for her sons’ Little League teams.

Marie was an avid sports enthusiast who rooted for the Dodgers and later the Braves; she loved telling the story of meeting the Dodgers’ manager, Tommy Lasorda, on a plane and getting an autographed photo of him. She loved football as well and rarely missed a Sunday afternoon game.

She was a world traveler, traversing the globe to such exotic places as San Jose, Ecuador and Costa Rica. Marie and Jim also made several trips to Colombia including Cardegena and Bogota to visit Jaime Espinosa, a man whom Jim had met as a stranger on a plane and who would become a lifelong friend from that point forward.

Marie is preceded in death by her mother and father, Theresa and Frank D’Ambra; her brother and sister-in-law, Louie and Shirley D’Ambra; and her mother and father-in-law, Lizaya and Tom Collier.

She is survived by her husband of nearly 49 years, Jim Collier; her son and future daughter-in-law, Tom Collier and Tyra Chen; her son and daughter-in-law, Frank and April Collier; and her granddaughters, Alyssa, Becka, Mikayla and Sabrina.

A memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at St. Pius Catholic Church, 625 E. Haycraft Ave., Coeur d’Alene.

Please visit Marie’s memorial and sign her online guest book at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.