CHARLIE
O. FINLEY 1919 to 1996
Grandson of Randolph D. Finley,
who was born: November 18, 1867 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a
horse trader and farmer. Randolph Finley died August 10,
1922 in Ensley, Alabama, and Charlie's grandmother, Emma
Caroline Skates, born September 11, 1870 in Tuscaloosa,
Alabama, died January 25, 1934 in Ensley,
Alabama.
Son of Oscar A. Finley and Burma
Fields-Finley in Ensley, Alabama.
Oscar A. Finley worked as a
machinist in Alabama's steel industry, as did most of his
brothers.
Charlie O. Finley, born:
February 20, 1919, in Ensley, Alabama, died: February 19,
1996 in Chicago, ILL,
buried in Merrillville,
IN,
His father, Oscar Finley, moved
the family north to Gary, Indiana, in about 1927, hoping
the steel mills in the north would pay more. The
remaining Finley family stayed in Alabama during the
1920's.
Note: Oscar's brother, Carl A.
Finley, Sr. born Nov. 13 1896, in Ensley; moved to
Dallas, Texas in 1920, and started selling used cars. He
fared better during the depression than had he had stayed
at the steel mills.
Carl Sr.'s, son, Carl A. Finley,
Jr., who would later help manage the Baseball team in
Kansas City and later Oakland, CA, was born in Dallas,
Texas, March 23, 1924, and died March 30, 2002 and is
buried in Dallas, Texas.
Interesting
family legends about Charlie and the Finley
family:
As a child, Charlie O. Finley
suffered from a speech impediment. He learned to overcome
this by talking slowly; as an adult, this way of speaking
often intimidated others.
