Arthur Renwick Finlay, son of James and Mary (Walkinshaw) Finlay, was born on April 18, 1920, on the family farm one half mile from College Springs, Iowa. He grew up in the Blanchard and Coin communities and graduated from Coin High School in 1937. He later took Business Administration from Commercial Extension in Omaha, NE and the Dale Carnegie course on public speaking.
Art completed his Army basic training in June of 1946 at Fort Knox, Kentucky. From there he was sent to Seoul, South Korea, where he served as a Military Policeman. He was honorably discharged in 1947.
On November 25, 1947, he was united in marriage to Mildred Bayless in Clarinda, Iowa. Following their marriage, they moved to a farm west of Shambaugh and later farmed two miles north of Blanchard. In 1954, they moved to Loveland, CO, where they lived until moving to Shenandoah in 1959.
In his earlier years, he farmed until they moved to Loveland, where he worked for ABC Trailer Factory as a bookkeeper and then as a real estate agent at Ray Stroh Realty. When they moved back to Shenandoah he worked at Miller International and later Madsen International. In the evenings he worked at the gate factory. Later he went to work for Eaton Corporation until he retired from full time work. After his retirement he worked at the livestock barn on Mondays and helped numerous farmers with their farm equipment.
He was a member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church and later joined the First United Methodist Church in Shenandoah. He was a member of the Eureka Club in Coin and was active in the Coin Alumni Association and the Shenandoah American Legion.
Preceding him in death were his parents and his two sisters Sarah Lavina Milligan and Elizabeth Hensleigh, and his four brothers David, George, Robert and John.
Those left to honor his memory include his two daughters Peggy Oliver and husband Richard of Shubert, NE and Janet E. (Western) Weiman and husband John of Phoenix, AZ; grandchildren Wendy (Oliver) Vice and husband Daniel and their three children Brandt, Megan and Avery of Falls City, NE, Kyle Western of New York City, NY and Dustin Oliver and wife Jeanette of Basehor, KS; sisters-in-law Gwendolin Whitehill of Shenandoah and Wilma Bayless of Elmo, MO; brothers-in-law Franklin Bayless of Shenandoah and James Chambers of Council Bluffs, IA; many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Arthur passed away on December 19, 2010 at the Fair Oaks Residential Center in Shenandoah.