Leona Dawson Fincher

Mrs. Leona Dawson Fincher, age 87, of Auburn died Thursday March 8, 2018 at Bethany House in Auburn after an extended illness.

Mrs. Fincher was born October 7, 1930 and grew up in the Beehive community in Loachapoka, Alabama along with four brothers and four sisters. She graduated from Lee County High School and attended nursing school at the Catholic Hospital in New Orleans and St. Margaret’s Hospital in Montgomery. Upon graduating as a registered nurse she began her long nursing career as the 1st Labor / Delivery nurse at the newly opened Lee County Hospital in 1953. She spent 20+ years as a private duty nurse and Nursing Director at the Opelika Nursing Home and then ended her working career as a home health nurse with the Lee County Health Department. She continued her nursing by caring for family members and close family friends in her home up until the last couple of years. She and her husband, Staley were married June 6, 1950 while she was in Nursing School in New Orleans and while he was on leave from the Air Force at Andrews AFB in Washington DC. One of the stories she enjoyed telling was that the nursing students were not allowed to fraternize with men while in school without permission from the senior nun.  Staley had to ask her for permission if Leona could marry, luckily she was very fond of him and gave her blessing. Leona and Staley enjoyed camping and traveling with close friends and the local camping club and was an active member in the Grace Methodist Church in Auburn.

Leona is survived by sons Staley E. (Cathy) Fincher Jr. and George Robert (Jackie) Fincher of Auburn and grandchildren Jacob Edward (Noel) Fincher of Boaz, Meagan Smith and Kyle Smith of Auburn. She has one living sister, Mrs. J.H. Graves of Waverly and numerous nieces and nephews. She was the daughter of the late James Fletcher Dawson Sr. and Emma Broome Dawson of Loachapoka and was preceded in death by Staley E. Fincher Sr and infant daughter Nancy Jean Fincher.

Funeral services will be held at the Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home in Opelika at 11:00am Monday March 12, 2018 with internment at Auburn Memorial Garden with David Camphouse officiating. The family will receive friends Sunday March 11th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at Jeffcoat-Trant. In lieu of flowers the family request donations can be made to the Staley Fincher Poultry Scholarship Fund through the Alabama Poultry and Egg Association c/o Alabama Poultry Foundation P. O. Box 240 Montgomery, AL 36101.