Katherine Finley

Katherine Finley passed away Friday, May 23, 2008 at a local retirement center. Visitation will be Monday evening from 6-8 p.m. at Lake Shore Funeral Home in Waco. Services will be 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 27, 2008 at Waco Memorial Park Mausoleum with Rev. Stephen Ramsdell officiating. Burial will follow at Waco Memorial Park.

Katherine Eugenia Green was born July 24, 1918 in San Antonio, Texas. She was the only child of Eugene Edward Green, Jr. and Hallie Margaret Coates. At birth she weighed 3 pounds and was 11 inches long. She was placed in a shoebox heated by a light bulb. As a child, she was very close to her great-grandfather, Ed J.L. Green, who was an early settler and bank president in San Marcos, Texas.

Katherine moved with her parents to Waco in 1924. She attended Provident Heights and Sanger Avenue Elementary schools, West Junior and graduated from Waco High in 1936. She took dance lessons from the Hoffmanette sisters and performed at the Cotton Palace. She began college in Denton, Texas before transferring to Southwestern University in Georgetown. Her first job was recreation director for the city of Tyler, Texas.

She married Marion Smith Finley August 31, 1941. They moved to San Antonio where he worked on aircraft used during WWII. A transfer brought them back to Waco. During the war years Katherine drove trucks for the Motor Pool at Blackland Army Airbase. Following the war, she attended 4C College and worked in the Camp Fire Girls office. She drew plans for homes Marion built as a contractor and was bookkeeper for their business, Brake & Clutch Supply, from 1956 until retirement in 1980. They celebrated 50 years of marriage August 31, 1991. They were members of First United Methodist Church of Waco.

Katherine was an avid bowler until 2000, winning many trophies through the years. Katherine and Marion were founding members of the Waco Chapter of the Horseless Carriage Club of America. In 1958 she drove their 1913 Rambler to Mineral Wells for the Texas Tour. She collected antique clothes and dressed her family in clothing appropriate for the various antique cars they owned. She compiled a book of clothing styles for use by other antique car collectors.

Katherine was very interested in the genealogy of each branch of the family tree – Finley, Smith, Green, Coates, and Randle. Her research provides valuable information to her descendants.

Her husband, Marion, preceded Katherine in death. Survivors include sons Richard E. Finley and wife Janette of China Spring and Thomas W. Finley of Loveland, Colorado; daughter Linda Carol and husband Billy R. Duke of Bruceville. Granddaughters Shari Lofgren and husband Kevin and Erica Manias and husband Pete both reside in Frisco, Texas. Great-grandchildren are Minas and Anastasia Manias, Finley Claire Lofgren and a great-grandson Lofgren to be born June 12, 2008. A niece, Sharon Boynton of Houston, a nephew Wayne Finley of Lake Oswego, Oregon, and great-nephews Dr. Jim Boynton of Houston and John and Taylor Finley of Oregon also survive her.

Honorary pallbearers will be Billy Duke, Kevin Lofgren, Pete Manias, Vic DuPart and Davis Metz.

Thoughts and memories may be shared in the online Guest Book at www.LakeShoreFuneralHome.com