Francis Collins

Kindness and respect for others brings happiness and peace.

Francis Collins was born in 1941 in Ireland in The Curragh, a military camp built by the British to train soldiers for the Crimean War. It was a wonderful place to grow up, very self contained and with horse training nearby. During school vacation, Francis’s family mostly spent time on his Grandmother’s farm and the marvels of raising animals, growing foods, and farm chores. He is the youngest of four boys.

Francis attended school in the Curragh until 12 years old. In later years, he attended school taught by Dominicans, first as a day school, then as a boarding school. He began his training for a career in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery first in Dublin, and then in England, and finally, in the United States. He also attended an internationally renowned program in Germany for 6 months. For ten years, Francis practiced as the Director of the Oral and Maxillofacial Program in Harbor View which involved working with the most devastating and complicated facial trauma and reconstruction, anesthesia and oral medicine. Subsequently, he came to Wenatchee to start a practice which involved treating everybody and where he’s remained ever since. When he arrived in Wenatchee, he was appointed as Health Officer for Chelan Douglas Health Department, a post he’s held until April of 2020.

All in all, Francis believes he couldn’t plan his life better or have done this without the support of his wonderful wife, Gabrielle(RIP) who left her home and family in Ireland to join and support him in furthering his career and rearing their daughter, Mairead, who was born in Swedish Hospital while he was at Harbor View. Gabrielle died young from early onset Alzheimer’s but not before completing her degree in Architecture at the age of 50. Mairead now lives in London and she and her father talk often during the week.

Sporting activities played a huge part as a stress breaker and for creating friendships with people from many different walks of life. There can be a tendency in the medical world to mix only with. members of the profession from spending so many working hours together and round the clock training. Rugby was a great way of interacting with people in both Dallas and Seattle to meet people from all over the world. Here, in Wenatchee, Francis and Gabrielle took up skiing and hiking which gave them the opportunity to travel to places like The Bob Marshall Wilderness, The Bowren Lakes in Vancouver Canada, the Northwest Territories, the Tatsanchine River, the Chilcot trail from Alaska into Canada and more. Hiking, kayaking and other outdoor activities helped them feel a deeper belonging in their community.