By Staff
Jay, Fla.
Mrs. Sarah Campbell Finlay, 90, died peacefully at her home in the Mount Carmel community, at the family farm. She was preceded in death by her husband, Richard (Dick) Finlay, a native of Pollard.
She is survived by a daughter, Sally Ann Finlay; two sons, Richard Douglas Finlay, and Herbert Daniel Finlay; three grandchildren, Rich (Leslie) Diamond, Curtis Daniel Finley, and Elizabeth Finlay; one great-granddaughter, Ryleigh Diamond; nieces and nephews; a special “granddaughter,” Catherine Smith; and her devoted friend and housekeeper for many years, Martha Burt.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 10:30 a.m. at Pollard United Methodist Church with the Rev. Winston Jay and the Rev. Bert Weis officiating. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Cemetery at Pollard.
She was a native of Paulding County, Ga., and grew up in Atlanta and Newnan, Ga. She was a veteran of World War II, U.S. Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Services). She studied English and Communication Sciences at Oklahoma A&M in Stillwater, Okla.; after basic training she was assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C., under commander Rudd. Following his return from wartime service in the European Theater of Operations, she married Alabama native, Richard Esselman Finlay on Dec. 21, 1945, in New York City at the (Episcopal) Church of the Transfiguration (better known as “The Little Church Around the Corner.”) He was stationed for the remainder of his service at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. While living in Brooklyn, they had their first child Oct. 7, 1947; and in the winter of 1948, they came home to Pollard.
She was a mother and a homemaker, a Cub Scout Den Mother, a member of the Pollard United Methodist Church, a youth Sunday School teacher for many years, a member (and former president) of the Lucille Vinson Ladies Circle, and an avid gardener of roses and day lilies. As a former WAVE, she was invited in the 1980's to participate in the “Hands Across the Sea” goodwill visits between our United Kingdom World War II allies and the United States. She traveled with that group on several trips, including England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and her final trip: to Australia and New Zealand for Australia's Centennial celebration. She loved to travel with her family, and she enjoyed trips to Alaska, Hawaii, the Bahamas, Turkey, Cyris, Jordan, Germany, Canada, and throughout the United States. Her favorite spot of all, however, was the area of Georgia where she grew up with so many cousins and family. She was a devoted Christian mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and aunt. She will be greatly missed by all.