Coletta Bina

Shared a photo.

Shared a photo.

A forever friend❤️

My son and Colleta's daughter attended Kindergarten together in 1975 at Marquette Elem School. Coletta kindly offered to watch my son after school til I finished work. One day she called me at the office - my son has taken up a dare by Sean to slide down their laundry shoot - headfirst. But he got stuck at the top. His thick orthopedic shoes kept him from slipping down! He couldn't be pulled back up...Coletta filled the bottom of the chute with blankets & pillows, slowly removed his shoes and whoosh, off he flew to the basement at Bina's! He wasn't injured and this story lives on. Thanks, Coletta, for saving the day. ♥️♥️♥️

My name is Paul Zarka. I offer my condolences to the Bina and Mulvihill families and all friends. For the 1966-1967 school year, Coletta Mulvihill Bina was my Seventh Grade Teacher at St Martin of Tours School in San Jose, CA. That was her first year of teaching, and her only one in California. When I was 21, in 1975, I visited her in Madison, WI, and it was important for me to share with her (while she was caring for her infant, by the way) that I was in love with Barbara Zarka, whom I would marry in 1976. In recent years, Coletta and I became friends on Facebook, and for every one of her birthdays since 2019, I sent her a birthday greeting. In my younger years, besides my parents, Coletta was the person who had the greatest positive impact on my life, and she continues to be among the most influential in my life today, as I soon enter my 71st year. Because of her inspiring example, I dedicated the use of my gifts and talents in service to humanity, and to the Divine, which is the source of everything. In my application essays for admission to high school, undergraduate school, and Master of Social Work school, I spoke of what I learned from my 7th grade teacher, Coletta, and how she inspired the direction of my life. The daily prayer that I recite each morning, even now, includes “that I utilize all of my gifts in service to The One Love”. I credit Coletta for that. I imagine that I am only one of innumerable persons which Coletta has positively inspired. May the boundless love that she has left behind continue to multiply, and may we honor her life by living by her example!❤️