Priscilla (Parsons) Finger (1930 - 2016)

Ancestors

Died 19 Jun 2016 at age 85 in North Carolina

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Priscilla Locke (Parsons) Finger was born on September 9, 1930 in Erie, PA and died on June 19, 2016 in Asheville, NC. Priscilla was predeceased by her husband, Arthur E. Finger, Jr. She is survived by her son, James Finger (Laurel), and daughter, C. Andi Locke Mears (P.J.), her grandchildren Melissa Locke Wardwell (Eric), Daniel and Jillian Finger, great grandchildren Emmett and Alice Wardwell, Godchild Bobbie D’Addario, soul sister Lorraine Murphy, as well as many nieces, nephews and friends.

Here is a bit on her life's story:

After spending her childhood in Erie, the family moved to Waterville, ME, where she attended High School. It was around this time that she also began a lifelong friendship with a girl from England, named Jackie. She and Jackie were both participants in a pen pal program, assigned to one another. They were faithful correspondents, and during the war, sent one another gifts. Priscilla would send Jackie items Jackie couldn’t get because of the war, such as nylons. All Priscilla wanted, though, was anything having to do with the Royal Family- a huge, and life long, passion of hers.

In 1955, Priscilla’s family sponsored Jackie’s family to move to the US, and their relationship only deepened. They remained lifelong friends, their growing families becoming friends with one another.

Priscilla graduated from Coburn Classical Institute in Maine, and attended Syracuse University, where she earned a degree in Library Science, with a minor in theology. She also met her future husband, Arthur Finger, there, at a fraternity party; a very different type of party then than they are now. It wasn’t too long before they married.

After graduation, Priscilla and Arthur settled in Buffalo, where both of their children, Jim and Andi, were born. But soon enough, Arthur’s work brought the family to Nashua, NH, where they built a house and settled in.

Priscilla worked for a while at a clothing store. But as Arthur’s business took off, eventually opening multiple offices, she went to work at his company as an administrative assistant. She worked hard and was proud of her work - it felt to her like the career she had always longed to have.

While she found great satisfaction in her work and the success it helped bring, Priscilla was also a social butterfly. She sang with the local choral society, and traveled to England and Scotland with them with joint concerts with British choral societies, bringing Andi and Jim with her on the second trip. She loved to entertain. The family joined the local country club; Priscilla hosted cocktail parties, she was friends with many neighbors, and was active in her Methodist church. In fact religion was a very important part of the family’s life for quite some time.

But eventually the family bought a boat, and the lure of the water was too great on the weekends. Both of Priscilla’s brothers had cottages on Lake Winnipesaukee, where the family kept their boat. When weather permitted, the families spent almost every weekend together. They boated, swam, played cards, and had some more of those cocktail parties. Both Andi and Jim remember those weekends as some of their best memories.

In the mid-80’s Priscilla and Arthur sold the house in Nashua and built their dream house in Sarasota, FL.

In a heartbreaking turn of events, Arthur died unexpectedly only 6 weeks after they moved into their new home. Priscilla was devastated. She was only 60 yrs old and suddenly alone. In time, however, a gift emerged from the midst of intense sorrow- new friendships that became some of the most profound of her life.

Priscilla met Lorraine Murphy through the choral society in Sarasota. Lorraine found herself alone at the same time Priscilla did, and Priscilla invited her to move in. Their friendship blossomed, and they became so close they called each other soul sisters. They sang together in choral societies, traveling the world to perform. They went to the symphony, the opera, and the theater. Their friendship brought joy and nourishment to both of them. Lorraine eventually remarried and moved out, but their friendship endured.

While in Sarasota, Priscilla also returned to church, becoming active in First Church, United Methodist. She sang in the choir, and was active in United Methodist Women and participated in the Esther Circle- a circle of love and support that held her as she adapted to being a widow, and then invited her to share that same tenderness with others in their time of need, and she did. She was drawn into non-profit work, and she served on the board of many non-profits, with a special passion for Unifem, the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

And so, despite Priscilla’s loss of her husband far too soon, her life was rich and full. She eventually moved into the Sunnyside Retirement Community in Sarasota yet, as happens to all of us in the end, her body began to fail her. Eventually her struggles were significant enough that her children helped her to move to a wonderful assisted care facility in Asheville, NC, where Andi lived, that cared for not only Priscilla’s body, but also her heart and spirit. Her family and the staff showered her with love and care.

Priscilla’s last years were hard in many ways. She knew what was happening to her mind and body as it happened, and it made her furious. She was ready to move on long before she did. But still, in the end, she was building relationships, making friends in her new home. And still, she had flashes of joy and silliness and humor. And still, she had love- love that she received and love that she gave, even as, finally, she moved into the great love that holds us all.

Priscilla was interred in Central Cemetery, Rye, NH.

Sources

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