Charlotte Rhea Finucane

Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Active in Community

Charlotte Rhea Finucane, nee Gunton, died on Monday, June 6, 2016, at Hospice Care Center in Lexington, Ky after several years of declining health. She had been cared for by her son Michael and his wife, Eve. Born on August 8, 1920, in Oak Park, Illinois, she was the only child of Raymond and Phila Connors Gunton. Charlotte grew up in Evanston, IL, graduating at the top of her high-school class. She met her husband, Thomas, when they were students at the University of Rochester (NY). In 1941, they married and moved to Kingsport, Tennessee where they lived for many years. In later life, she moved to Lexington, Kentucky. In Kingsport, she was active at St. Dominic's Church and School. Charlotte presided over Cub and Girl Scout groups in her home and a Girl Scout group in the Palmer Memorial Center for Crippled Children in Kingsport. She was active in the League of Women Voters for fifty years. Charlotte was also involved with the antiwar group New Mobilization. For a time, she was a prison visitor in the Sullivan County jail. She was deeply interested in Natural History, proficient in identifying local wild flowers and ferns. Charlotte also studied local history and prehistory, which inspired her to write a long novel about the ancient migrations from Asia to the Americas.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Finucane; and two sons, William Charles and Daniel Murphy.

Charlotte is survived by eleven children, John Joseph of Somerset, NJ, Raymond Gunton of Berkeley, CA, James Connors of Alliance, OH, Thomas Wellington of San Francisco, CA, Joseph of Knoxville, TN, Richard of Rush, KY, Patrick of Pinole, CA, Grace Finucane Friend of Montclair, NJ, Michael of Lexington, KY, Bernard Emmet of Ratingen, Germany, and Marion of Kingsport, TN; twenty-three surviving grandchildren; and seventeen great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 9, 2016, at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Home, Kingsport.

A funeral service will be conducted at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 10, 2016 at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Home, Kingsport.

Burial will follow at Oak Hill Memorial Park.