Elaine Carol Collins-Davila

Elaine Carol Francione was born on March 18th, 1948, in Jamaica Hospital in the borough of Queens in New York City, the same hospital as Trump but 2 years later. Elaine was the 2nd child of her mother Myrtle and her father Dominick Francione with the firstborn being her brother James. Elaine went to Catholic elementary school, an all-girl Catholic high school, and later in life had some time in college. Elaine did have a big family; her brother James had quite a few years difference in age and had 6 children in a big house on Long Island with a beautiful built-in pool. She spent many great times with her brother and sister-in-law, Marie, and all their wonderful kids. James and Marie were very family-oriented and always had lots of family members around for pool parties, BBQ’s and fun. The Francione’s were a very tight-knit “Italian” family. There was always a lot of Great Italian food and lots of family members always hanging around James’s house. Elaine had a very good relationship with her family and loved all of James's kids. She also was very close to her cousin Phyllis who she grew up with and many other relatives in Queens and her mom’s hometown in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

I met Elaine in a Club on Long Island in November 1973. I was looking for a date for New Year's Eve and found Elaine, little did I know at that time I would be spending the rest of my life with her. We dated and after several years got married. Elaine found us a great first home in Holbrook NY on Long Island, a government foreclosure that cost only $20,000 to purchase-- the house was gutted and needed extensive repairs, but the house was only a few years old and had great bones & a modern design. We fixed it up and had a great home. Elaine, myself, and her son Robert, who we always called Bobby, were lucky to have a good close-knit family, the three of us. We played video games, board games, went to amusement parks, watched movies, and did everything together while shockingly never fighting!

In February of 1978, I did get a job with Delta Airlines. We were lucky and that job gave us the ability to travel the world and see and explore many wonderful countries that gave us so many terrific experiences together. We have been to Hawaii, Vegas, and California so many times we can’t count. Hong Kong, Rio, South America, Europe, the Caribbean, literally everywhere, all three of us. It was fun, exciting and provided us with many wonderful memories.

In 1981 Delta airlines merged with Western Airlines and gave us an opportunity to move out west to Utah. Her son wanted to stay back East so we converted our home, so our son had a place to stay, and we rented out the other half. That lasted for 6 or 7 years before we finally sold the house and purchased a home in Sandy, Utah.

Elaine and I met many wonderful friends and still traveled a great deal. Elaine got a job at Holiday Inn reservations and worked there for 10 years. I retired early from Delta and got a job at Holiday Inn, so for a few years we actually worked together which was actually really fun. Elaine loved to play her sports. She learned to ski and golf at almost 40. Elaine played tennis, racquetball, pickleball, bowling, Zumba dance exercise, hiking, camping, etc., etc... Most of the sports did take a toll on our knees and body but she was very active but paid a price later in life with joint problems. Elaine was smart, the best speller I knew, and loved poker, word games, and song games. Online she had a huge following of friends who loved to play Songpop with her. Elaine had friends and lots of them --the reason was that she was kind, friendly, funny, and just a good-hearted person so she was like a magnet attracting and creating incredible bonds some of which had lasted over 60 years!! Elaine was lucky to find Movie extra work in Utah. She came to know Gayle Jensen, a TV/Movie casting director, and developed a great friendship with this kind woman, we even went to Hawaii together. Gayle helped Elaine dive into Movie/TV extra roles --she loved doing this extra work and was very lucky to be on the “Touched by an Angel “hit TV series” --that is so wholesome that it is still on TV. She was in tons of episodes with small extra parts but if you turn on the show you usually will catch a glimpse or two of her. She did a good job as an extra and that show will play all the time so we can all look for her. Elaine never grew old, we had tickets to go see Pitbull and Iggy Azalea on Oct 2, she LOVED her music so much. Two months ago, we were in Park City for an outdoor concert “Cool and the Gang “. We usually were the oldest people at many of the concerts!! We used to make jokes about it, but Elaine always kept up with music. We saw everybody from McCartney, Madonna, Britney, Elton, The Stones, Rod Steward, Lady Ga Ga, and plenty more. One time she purchased tickets to post Malone I said I don’t know his music that well, so she went with her girlfriend while painting a tattoo on her face matching his famous one. Elaine was quite adventurous; she went to Europe with her girlfriends, Vegas more times than Wayne Newton, and almost never turned down an opportunity to enjoy life. Elaine also had a very special family --Her Son, what can I say a dream son --a son she would party with --a son that gave his mother a great cruise to Bermuda which they both enjoyed beyond reason. Elaine was very lucky to have a wonderful, successful son that she was so proud of. Elaine, myself, and her son Bobby had a special relationship that most parents dream of. Elaine was also blessed with two wonderful granddaughters, Jane & Madelyn, who when they were younger did lots of things with her. Ironically her daughter-in-law shared the same name, and she is a great person & friend of Elaine‘s. Elaine did have a Great Life, a Beautiful Family, Lots of Great Friends, a Loyal Husband of 50 Years, World Travel, Sports, Beautiful Homes, and much, much more. Towards the end, Elaine wanted a small puppy. We traveled a lot, so we never had pets but again her wish and the dream came through when she got a 10 lb. puppy named Max. Elaine loved her Max --he slept with her, played with her, and went swimming with her in our pool -providing her so much enjoyment.

Now for some of the sorrow in her life --being into sport her joints were sore and worn out --I had to ice both of Elaine’s knees every night because they hurt so much, she had a hip replacement but before that her hip hurt her for a long time also her knees were going, she was going to get a new knee in late October. Elaine’s curse was the IBS --she battled with this disease for years ---eventually, her medications stopped working and her colon broke down. This is a nasty disease --in the end, Elaine was suffering and a long 4-hour operation on an elderly person with that disease is very risky. Elaine had pain in her knees for years, her hip was also painful, her stomach hurt, she had been having eye problems and was very afraid of possibly losing her vision. So, she was in pain in the end and begged to be let go --she used to say I can't take this anymore and GOD gave her --her request and ended her suffering --she is in a better place now but had a GREAT LIFE... I will miss her and it is hard, so hard at times. But think --she is not in pain and had the best life one could wish for…