James Collins, 81, a retired traveling salesman and former co-owner of Hines Legal Directory Inc., died Wednesday, June 25, at Central DuPage Hospital in Wheaton. When Mr. Collins asked Carolyn Baumgartner to marry him in 1950, the proposal was an invitation to travel the world. She accepted. “That was the point. I was going to go with him,” she said. The first stop was Iceland, where Mr. Collins had been stationed with the Army during World War II. Recalling the trips she and her husband took together during their 53 years of marriage, she said, “It was a great life, I’ll tell you. I’m going to miss it.” Born and raised in Chicago, Mr. Collins graduated from Park High School. After an abbreviated stint at Ripon College in Ripon, Wis., he returned to Chicago to help his ailing father run the family’s publishing firm, Hines Legal Directory Inc. His job of placing directories at insurance companies and law offices across North America kept him and his family on the road at all times. “I went with him from Canada to Florida, from Mississippi to the Atlantic. That was his sales territory,” his wife said. Mr. Collins preferred train travel. The couple rode the rails in Australia, South Africa, Europe, Canada and the United States. For the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary, they traveled to Malta. Quiet and contemplative, Mr. Collins planned every last detail of their trips. He had a file on every state complete with maps and train routes. And while planning each excursion, he always checked the calendar for a full moon so he could see as much as possible, even at night. While riding the Ghan railroad in Australia, his wife recalls the sun setting on one side and the moon rising in the east. And one evening while watching a performance at an outdoor amphitheater, the moon rose behind the stage. “It was the most spectacular thing I ever saw,” she said. Although they were residents of Wyndemere Retirement Community in Wheaton, she said her husband loathed the idea of living in a retirement home. Even in a wheelchair, he continued to make travel plans. “If we kept on going, we’d get meals and we wouldn’t have to come here,” she said with a chuckle. “He fought it till the very end.” Other survivors include a daughter, Heather; a son, Douglas; his brother and 50-year business partner, Edward; and two grandchildren. A memorial visitation will be held at 10 a.m. to noon Saturday with a 10:30 a.m. service at Wyndemere Retirement Community, 200 Wyndemere Circle, Wheaton.
