Jean B. Finch

On December 12, 2022, Jean Brinson Finch, age 78, loving wife, mother and grandmother died peacefully at home with her loving family surrounding her, after a hard fought battle with dementia.

Jean was born at her homeplace on December 6, 1944 on the family tobacco farm in Arapahoe, Pamlico County, North Carolina to Alton Alexander Brinson and Rosa Blanche Whitford Brinson. She was predeceased by her parents, her brothers-in-law Fallis Owen Finch, II, Philip Currin Finch, and David Herrin Batchelor, and most recently her son-in-law, Philip Ogden Redwine, Jr. She is survived by her loving husband and steadfast partner of 54 years, the Honorable Daniel Frederick Finch, her son, Daniel Brinson Finch, his wife Julie Derrick Finch, her daughter, Rebecca Jean Finch Redwine, her four grandchildren, Elizabeth Rose Finch, Daniel Brinson Finch, Jr., Finch Philip Redwine and Whitford Nash Redwine, her sister Ann Brinson Batchelor, and nieces Katherine Batchelor Wofford, husband Will Wofford, and Tricia Batchelor Stagner, husband Jubal Stagner, her sister-in-law Gaynelle White Finch, and nephews Fallis Owen Finch, III and Jason Douglas Finch, his wife Julie Brooks Finch.

Jean was a graduate of Pamlico County High School in 1963. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967. She received a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, while supporting her husband as he attended law school.

Jean was a life-long teacher and devout Baptist. Jean taught language arts in Atlanta, Georgia, first grade in Macon, Georgia, fourth and second grades at C.G. Credle School, in Oxford, North Carolina, and various grades at Kerr-Vance Academy and was a reading teacher at Vance Granville Community College. She was a long-time member of her beloved book club, the Pickwick Papers Literary Club. Jean grew up in the Amity Christian Church in Arapahoe, North Carolina and joined Oxford Baptist Church, where she held many positions, including Director of the Baptist Young Women, secretary of the Board of Directors for the nursery Wee School, a Mission Friends teacher, a Sunday School teacher, a choir member, and Director of the Women’s Missionary Union. She was instrumental in creating a tribute to all former and current pastors of Oxford Baptist Church, where the pictures and names of each pastor are displayed at the church. She went on mission trips to the Ukraine and traveled to Israel to visit the Holy Land.

“Kill them with kindness” was Jean’s phrase she taught to her children and embodied. Jean was an artist, an accomplished piano player and loved flowers and animals. She was an incredible mother and would brag endlessly about her two children and four grandchildren to anyone who would listen. Importantly, Jean never missed an opportunity to tell her children, their spouses and her grandchildren that she loved them and was so very proud of them.

Jean’s love for her children was only eclipsed by the love she had for her husband, Dan Finch. They met as students at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a bus headed to a model United Nations conference in New York City. They spent the following 54 years building a life and family in Oxford. Together they traveled the world, attending Shriner Conventions and legal conferences and generally enjoying life together to its fullest as a dynamic team. Additionally, Jean holds the outstanding, unbroken world record of listening to and laughing at jokes (at various levels of appropriateness) told by Dan.

Jean’s family would like to extend their special appreciation and thanks to the Duke Hospice team and to Sandy Mangum, Ruby Venable, and Ruby Byrd, all of whom beautifully assisted Jean as loving caretakers and guardian angels in her final weeks on this earth. The Finch family also extends their gratitude to the Oxford Baptist Church family, who has shown immeasurable love and support in this time of need.

A celebration of life memorial service will be held at Oxford Baptist Church in Oxford on Monday, December 19th at 2 p.m. The family will receive friends in the Family Life Center immediately following. A private graveside service will be held prior to the memorial service. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made in Jean’s loving memory to Oxford Baptist Church PO Box 398, Oxford, NC 27565.