Vermont Marston Finley (1880-1958)

From the Indiana University "Arbutus", 1909.

   A leading attorney based in Kendallville, Indiana, Vermont Marston Finley shares his first name with the Green Mountain State and made his political mark in the Indiana House of Representatives, where he served for one term. The son of Thomas and Effie Lybarger Finley, Vermont Finley was born in Wayne County, Ohio on July 19, 1880. He moved with his family to Indiana during childhood and settled first in Avilla and later in Kendallville.

  A student in schools local to Noble County, Indiana, Finley enrolled at the Tri-State College, where he earned a teaching license, and for several years taught at various schools in the Kendallville vicinity. He later returned to Tri-State College to obtain his A.B. degree and continued study at Indiana University, where he pursued an L.L.B. degree. His time at the school saw him take front rank as a debater, and in December 1908 "won honors" over several other students in an interclass debate on " Centralization, Its Tendencies and Its Evils." Finley graduated in 1909 and shortly after was admitted to the state bar, and began practice in Kendallville.

  Vermont Finley married in Indiana on January 12, 1910, to Carlotta Fisk, to whom he was wed until his death. The couple had two children, Wyman and Sylvia. In the same year as his marriage, Finley entered politics for the first time, gaining the Republican nomination for state representative from Noble County that June. Throughout the election season, Finley conducted "a vigorous campaign" and that November triumphed at the polls, besting incumbent Democrat J.T. Stahl by just 42 votes. Finley's victory was one of the few Republican wins in Noble County that year, with the South Bend Tribune remarking on the overwhelming Democratic wins that year.

  Taking his seat at the start of the 1911-13 session, Finley's committee assignments during his term remain unknown and in November 1912 was defeated for reelection by Democrat Marion Franks, 2,942 votes to 2,738. 

  After leaving the legislature Finley returned to his law practice and around 1923 was named as receiver for the Noble County Bank of Kendallville, where he continued work until the bank's closure in 1930. In 1937 he was joined in practice by his son Wyman, and in the latter portion of his life remained busy in several civic and fraternal groups, holding memberships in the Noble County Bar Association, and the International Order of Odd Fellows. Finley's 1957 obituary also denotes him as a longstanding parishioner at the First Church of Christ, where he was a Sunday School teacher and superintendent.

  Vermont Marston Finley died in Kendallville on February 16, 1957, following a heart attack. He was survived by his wife and children and was interred at the Lakeview Cemetery in Kendallville.

From the Steuben Republican, February 9, 1957.