Stephanie Collins gave up a job as a counselor several years ago to take up an offbeat career as an artist.

She also had become a caregiver to a friend, Michael Meyer, 79, and was taking him for a cancer treatment at Lawrence Memorial Hospital on Friday morning when they were both killed in a one-vehicle accident, according to her brother, Jack Collins, of Lawrence.

But Stephanie Collins, 42, didn’t use a paint brush and canvas to create her art. She used a welding torch. She made stairways, yard art, birdbaths and anything else she could create with a torch.

“She was one of those tortured souls trying to make it as an artist,” Jack Collins said. “She sold a lot of stuff, but she was never going to make it rich as an artist.”

Stephanie Collins had moved to Oskaloosa a few years ago and frequently drove back to Lawrence where all of the family gatherings took place, Jack Collins said.

According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, Stephanie Collins lost control of the 2000 Chevrolet pickup truck she was driving after it edged off the west side of Wellman Road while she was southbound. She overcorrected the vehicle and it swerved across the road into a ditch, striking a culvert.

The accident occurred near the 46th Street intersection.

The roadway, which lacks shoulders and has steep drop-offs, has a reputation among drivers as a dangerous road. It is slated by the Kansas Department of Transportation for safety improvements.

“Many people who have called to offer condolences have said that is a terrible road,” Jack Collins said.

Stephanie Collins was a Kansas University graduate and had a master’s degree in counseling and an undergraduate degree in music.

Though she began work as a counselor working with troubled women in Topeka, she left the profession about 10 years ago, Jack Collins said.

“Her counseling ended because it was too painful, the stuff she saw,” her brother said. “She was starting to take it home with her.”

Stephanie Collins then decided to follow in the footsteps of her brothers Jack and Steve, who also are artists.

Stephanie Collins will be cremated and any public services that might be held are still pending in Belleville, where her parents recently moved, her brother said.

“This has been a real kick in the head to them,” Jack Collins said.