Mary Finefrock

Mary-Jane Finefrock passed away Tuesday, December 23, 2008, at Mary Rutan Hospital, less than a month before her 89th birthday. She lived in Bellefontaine, Ohio, for more than 60 years, raised three children here, made lifelong friends, and encouraged the planting and preservation of shade trees.

She was born Mary-Jane Smith January 11, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in the north shore suburbs of Wilmette and Kenilworth. She practiced Christian Science throughout her life. As a teenager, she swam daily during warm weather in Lake Michigan. She graduated from New Trier High School and attended the Fairmont School in Washington, D.C. She was a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, where she was known as “Fiddy” and where she met her future husband, the Hon. Richard H. Finefrock, who later served as common pleas judge in Logan County for almost a quarter century. He died in 2005.

In Bellefontaine, Mrs. Finefrock served as a shade tree commissioner and was proud of the efforts of many to enhance the town’s arboreal beauty and restore its downtown. She was a member of Athenian Club and Bridge Club and was active in her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta. She put her college degree in retailing to use by working for several years at the old Style Shop on Main Street near the Logan County Court House.

Survivors include her children Jim Finefrock of San Francisco, Jack Finefrock of Mount Vernon and Maggie Finefrock of Kansas City, Mo.; grandchildren, Jessica Finefrock of Oakland, Calif., John Finefrock of Mill Valley, Calif., Edwina Finefrock of Mount Vernon, and Amory Bottorff and Abhiik Bottorff, both of Kansas City.

Her body was donated to The Ohio State University Medical School.

A memorial service and tree planting will be planned for the spring in Bellefontaine.

Arrangements were handled by the staff of the Eichholtz Funeral Home in Bellefontaine.

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