Thomas Wharton Collen Jr., 92, died Saturday, March 13, 2010.

He was the beloved husband of Joyce Gain Collens for 63 years; son of the late Stella Harang Collens and Thomas Wharton Collens; brother of Frances Collens Curtis of New Orleans; father of Thomas Wharton Collens III (Nancy) of Covington, Nan Stothard (Hank) of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., and the late Peter Lancaster Wharton Collens; grandfather of Thomas Wharton Collens IV (Mandy) of Suwanee, Ga., John “Jack” Daniel Collens of Athens, Ga., and Dylan Greenhoe (Annie) of Abu Dhabi, UAE; and great-grandfather of Jack and Charlie Greenhoe.

He was an avid theater-goer and devotee of the performing arts. He served with the U.S. State Department as American Vice Consul to the Belgian Congo (Zaire), where he met and married his wife.

COLLENS

He was born in New Orleans and educated at Jesuit and Fortier High Schools, and graduated from Tulane University and Tulane Law School. He and Joyce spent many years in Baton Rouge, where he entered the mortgage banking business with his late uncle, Lancaster W Collens. He later moved to Key Biscayne, Fla., and retired to Covington in the late 1980s after serving as president of Sears Mortgage Corp. For the last several years, he and Joyce have been residents of Christwood. He was the great-great-grandson of the founder of Covington, John Wharton Collins.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. today at E.J. Fielding Funeral Home, 2260 W. 21st Ave., Covington. Visitation will be from 1- 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations for the benefit of Maurice “Mac” Carr, St Jude Children’s Hospital, P.O. Box 56005, New Orleans, LA 70156. Sign the family guestbook online at www.ejfieldingfh.com.