Lt. Col. Harley J. FINLEY

FINLEY, COLLOPY, FORD

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/27/2007 at 20:16:06

Wright County Monitor
December 15, 1966

8 or 10 February 1918 -- 7 December 1966

Funeral Services Held for Lt. Col. Finley at Eagle

Services were held Saturday at the Sacred Heart Church in Eagle Grove for Lt. Col. Harley J. Finley who was one of three Iowa National guardsmen killed last Wednesday in a fiery crash of their helicopter on a Texas ranch south of Gainesville, Texas. Rev. Maurice Mullan officiated. Burial was in the Calvary cemetery. Eagle Grove, with military rites by the National Guard units of Eagle Grove and Des Moines. Lt. Col. Finley, a native of Eagle Grove, had been decorated in World War II. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1941, served in the European theater and also as a flight instructor. He received the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the European Campaign Medal. Finley had been in the National Guard since 1947. He was engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Eagle Grove before going to Boone. He belonged to the Knights of Columbus and the American legion.

He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; three children, Janet, Bob and Jack; his parents-in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Collopy, Eagle Grove, a sister, Mrs. Irene Ford, Eagle Grove and a brother, Ronald of California.