Frank Finlayson

Frank Finlayson - 03/25/2002 Frank Finlayson - 03/25/2002 FRANK E. FINLAYSON Frank Ernest Finlayson, 83, Idaho Falls businessman, combat engineer in World War II, and avid sportsman, died at this home at 372 Gustafson Drive, March 23rd following an extended illness. He was born the son of Ernest Wilson Finlayson and Della Lloyd Finlayson February 17, 1919 at Idaho Falls, Idaho. His father owned and operated a general store and hotel at Spencer for the first 10 years of his life. The family then moved to Idaho Falls where his father purchased and operated the former New Porter hotel on Broadway in Idaho Falls for several years. A graduate of Idaho Falls High School and the University of Idaho, Frank “Finny” Finlayson after completing college was called to serve in the 102nd Army Division of the 327 Combat Engineers Unit. Following officer training, he was assigned as a first lieutenant to a combat zone in Germany for extensive duty. Injured in combat, he was awarded a purple heart at the end of the war. While training in an Army Officer Candidate School in Texas, he was married to Mary Alice Thebo April 24, 1943 in Paris, Texas. After the war, the couple moved to Idaho Falls where they have since resided. A successful businessman, he owned and operated a Furniture Store on Boulevard. He also owned and operated a men's clothing store on Park Avenue. Later his business and organizational skills also earned his appointment as a regional director of the Law Enforcement Planning Commission. He found time for community activities apart from his business and family life. He was elected district Governor of the Exchange Club and was a member of the Idaho Falls Elks Club and the American Legion Post here. His early years as a boy in mountain straddled Spencer spawned a keen interest in hunting and fishing, an avocation he enjoyed all of his life. He eventually built and owned a cabin on Island Park Reservoir where the gregarious “Finny” was a lighthearted host for hunters and fishermen as well as neighbors who neither fished nor hunted. A buoyant, welcoming man, he was in his favorite element hosing a part where the hum of animated conversations and a circle of good-humored stores around him regaled a room full of friends. An invitation to his Christmas and Birthday gatherings guaranteed the rekindling of friendships in the patented good times of a “Finny Party”. He was close to his family. While he would enforce family rules with firmness, his children remember him most for their fun times with him; snowmobiling in the high country, hunting grouse, or fishing and boating Island Park Reservoir as well as the trout streams of Island Park and nearby Montana. Survivors include his wife, Mary Alice and the following children: a daughter, Cynthia Branter (husband, Keith Branter) of Idaho Falls; a son, Frank Finlayson (wife, Janet) of Merrimac, Massachusetts; and a son, Fred Finlayson (wife, Bonnie) of Idaho Falls. He is also survived by eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren. His parents and his sister, Dorothy Finlayson Field, preceded him in death. Graveside services are at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, 2002 at Rose Hill Cemetery with Father Bill Crowley of Christ the King Catholic Church officiating. The family will visit with friends on Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Wood Funeral Home. Military rites will be performed by the Bonneville County Veterans Team. In lieu of flowers, the family has said those desiring can make a memorial donation in Frank Finlayson’s name for: Hospice of Eastern Idaho at 1920 E. 17th Street, Idaho Falls, 83404 or Holy Rosary Catholic School at 161 9th Street, Idaho Falls, 83404. If you would like to offer your condolences fill in the form below. Name E-Mail Message [ Previous Obituary - Robert Earl Kelsey | Current Obituary | Next Obituary - Jaime L. Smith ]