Barrie Tait Collins

Barrie Tait Collins, of Ashlar Village, Wallingford, formerly of Bethany, Connecticut, died Thursday, June 26, at the age of 97. She moved from Bethany, CT to Ashlar Village in 2016.

Barrie was the daughter of Trevor S. and Katharine L. Tait, of Cresskill, New Jersey. She grew up with three younger brothers, Robin T., Colin C. and Kevin S. Tait. Barrie married Stephen Collins in 1954, and they were together for 56 years before he predeceased her in 2010. He was an ecologist and an emeritus professor of biological sciences at Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven. Barrie leaves two daughters, Condie C. Ward of Westport, Cary T. Collins of Groton, and a son, Torrey T. Collins of Pine Meadow, all three from Connecticut; and three grandsons, Matthew Swartz, Riley Ward and Thomas Ward.

Barrie was born on September 10, 1927 in New York City. She and her family moved to Cresskill, New Jersey in 1937. While her father worked in NYC as a credit manager for GrayBar Corporation, her mother was a lead artist for the family owned J & R Lamb Studios, where she created stained glass commissions for churches worldwide, while raising their four children. Barrie attended Barnard College, Columbia University, where she majored in English Literature and History, graduating in 1949. Barrie then took a job working as a writer and editor for 7 years in New York City for the international corporation W.R. Grace and Company, which had extensive travel and commercial interests in the United States and South America. The company sent her on two extended trips throughout the southern continent.

Barrie and her husband Stephen moved to New Haven in 1957 for his work as a forest ecologist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. He went on to teach at Southern Connecticut State College for 26 years. In 1960, they moved to Bethany, CT. Barrie lived in that home for 56 years before moving to Ashlar Village.

While in Bethany all those years, Barrie was very involved in the community. She served as a founder and president of the Friends of the Bethany Library; Vice Chairman and Director of the Bethany Land Trust; member of the regional Amity Mothers for Safer Schools and Amity Citizens Interested in Education; West Rock Ridge State Park advisory council member, where she and Stephen worked tirelessly to help establish the West Rock Ridge State Park, which they and others succeeded in doing in 1975 - the land is protected for all time because of them; member and executive board member of Residents for Rural Roads; founder of Save Our Open Space (SOS); and publicity chairman and volunteer at the District Animal Control shelter. She was named Citizen of the Year in Bethany in 1986.

For 25 years, Barrie worked as a newspaper reporter for the New Haven Register and, previously, The Waterbury Republican. Throughout, she reported on news happening in Bethany, taking photographs to go along with her stories.

Barrie co-founded and served as president of the Bethany Wanderers, a regional hiking group, for 33 years. Hiking was her truest passion, and she went as often as she could.

While living at Ashlar, Barrie wrote a monthly nature column in The Verbiage at Ashlar Village for many years. Through her passionate observations and musings about nature, residents learned about seasonal happenings all around them.

Barrie lived a long, full life. She supported many causes near and dear to her heart - human rights, women's rights and animal rights were at the top of her list. She remained interested in what was happening around the world, avidly reading the daily newspaper and watching her favorite news programs.

A celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, August 2, 2025, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. at Ashlar Village.

Contributions in her memory may be sent to: The Bethany Land Trust, P.O. Box 3706, Woodbridge, CT, 06525 (bethanylandtrust@gmail.com).