On Wednesday, Jan. 13th, our beloved Mother and Grandmother, left her earthly home, and entered the pearly gates, where she joined her youngest daughter, Linda, her mother Diana and father Adrien, as well as her two sisters Alice and Yvette and brother Ernest and many good friends.
She is survived by her two daughters, Shirley and Viviane and grandchildren Derrell and Dwayne as well as great and great, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews including Henry and his son Randy.
She is also missed by her sisters-in-law Terry and Yvonne and many others.
She was like a Mother for many from Canada to India.
Her loss is deeply felt by all of us.
She is now rejoicing in the arms of the Saviour she loved and proclaimed.
Shirley, Viviane and Dwayne
Thérèse Collins (Gagnon)
Sept. 25th, 1916 - Jan. 13th, 2021
For the obituary, the family got together to write it.
Just three months before Christmas, Sept. 25th, 1916, a dear little girl was born at 2104 St-Hubert Street in Montreal. They called her Thérèse.
Her Mother’s name was Diana Boisvert from Terrebonne and her Father, Adrien Gagnon from Ste-Anne des plaines. Both are small communities in the Montreal area.
At the age of four, in the midst of a severe pandemic, the Spanish Flue, they answered a call to go as pioneers to Alberta where they joined Diana’s father.
Her parents as well as her older sister and brother, Alice and Ernest settled in the Bonnyville area. For many years they lived a very poor life, in a log shack on their farm.
Six years later, the family welcomed Sister Collins’ youngest sister, Yvette.
In those early days, education was considered a luxury, so Sister Collins was sent far from her home for the first years where she was terribly homesick, crying herself to sleep every night.
At the age of ten, she contracted double pneumonia, black fever and measles and was given up to die.
God already had His hand upon this child, and her mother never gave up hope. She visited the doctor frequently, asking him if there was any hope for her little child, to which he always replied “No”. Tired of her persistence, he finally replied, “Where there is life, there is hope”. She said, “Thank you doctor and left”.
They eventually built a better home which afforded a little more comfort than the cold, drafty shack.
Sister Collins loved to walk the mile and a half to visit her Grandfather, who lived on trapping and fishing near Muriel Lake, Alberta. She had many fond memories from that chapter of her life.
After leaving the farm, the family settled for a time in the Fort McMurray area, where her mother had a restaurant in Waterways and her brother drove taxis.
The family later moved to Edmonton, Alberta.
For several years, her father worked in the far North in Norman Wells as the powder man.
At the age of 32, while residing in New Westminster, British Columbia, she received Salvation in Jesus, which was a turning point in her life.
From the day that she received that mighty Salvation experience and saw Jesus, her life was transformed. She often talked about the beauty of Jesus, and the joy she experienced at that time. Shortly after, the Lord called her to preach and her whole life was dedicated unselfishly and with a great love for lost souls regardless of nationality or status in life.
This she did starting on Vancouver skid road where numerous lives were transformed including the man who was known at that time to police as the devil of skid road and another man who sold his shoes to buy booes.
In Edmonton Alberta, her Mission, called Galilee Rescue Mission, experienced a mighty revival, of which a Minister of the Gospel made a remark that during his ministry he had never seen so many people receive Salvation from their sins.
After this, she started the Caleb Rescue Mission at the corner of Powel and Maine in Vancouver and ministered to the men on skid road.
Year later, she had a very successful ministry for the seamen in the port of Vancouver and many were saved from their sins, of which some became Pastors and Preachers.
She also had a skid road Mission in Winnipeg called “Sunrise Gospel Mission”. The sun was beginning to rise in the east. There, a man was delivered from demons and everyone who knew him was astonished.
From there the Lord called her to Montreal where she had “La Mission Nazareth, La Mission Théman, and La Chapelle Marina”.
God worked mightily and many came to know the Lord including members of the underworld, whose lives were completely changed. Many of them went back and made restitution.
She also worked with the seamen in Saint John, New Brunswick.
She held many Special services in towns and cities from British Columbia to Newfoundland, the USA, Germany and India.
She went to India 13 times as a Missionary. She loved the people and was loved by them in return.
She did not spare herself, willing to face hardship to proclaim the Saviour she loved.
She was in danger of elephants, deadly snakes and spiders, as well as poisonous centipedes and scorpions.
She crossed rivers on foot, and in baskets, was burned by the sun, had food poisoning and other sicknesses.
She encountered many dangers travelling both at home and abroad. She went through a very bad storm, crossing the Atlantic by plane, as well as enduring many wild storms while travelling throughout Canada both in summer and winter.
The Lord spared our lives when our car rolled down a steep embankment in the middle of the night in Manitoba.
Because of radical terrorists, her life was in danger at times as well.
She could well understand the Scripture in the Psalms that says; “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.”
The Apostle Paul also wrote about all the dangers he endured. He mentions “in perils by mine own countrymen, and also in perils among false brethren;” Yes, Sister Collins was also persecuted by wicked people who misunderstood, misinterpreted her and invented evil things. I must pause to mention that some of these people have since repented.
While in Vancouver, one man was intercepted with a loaded gun by one of our men. He was headed to Sister Collins’ residence. He was later apprehended by police in Winnipeg.
One of Sister Collins greatest sorrows is when she lost her youngest daughter, Linda. Linda loved her Mother much and they were very close.
We will never know how many thousands of lives were touched and healed through the prayers and ministry of Sister Collins, until all will be revealed at that final judgment day, but we do know that the Lord performed many miracles and healings through her prayers.
Sadly, in the midst of another pandemic, the Lord called her home. She will be greatly missed by all of us, but she is now rejoicing in the Presence of the Saviour whom she served and loved.
She wrote many choruses and poems:
Here are a few...
There’s a longing in my heart
That this world will never fill.
It goes beyond the distant stars
It reaches to the highest hill.
This feeling is for Christ the King
The only love that never dims
This world can never satisfy,
It takes the realms beyond the sky.
And also……
Lord take the bloom of every year
Mix them with each bitter tear.
Make of them a joyous time;
Victorious paths and strength sublime.
Lord, take the peaceful rays,
Mix them with the troubled days
Make them into constant flow,
Of courage true and morning glow.
Lord take the carefree hours,
Mix them with the toils and labours;
Make of them a march serene
Till the golden shore is seen.