Fayetteville recently unveiled a monument to the first female mayor of our city, Beth Finch. The unveiling of the Mayor Beth Finch Monument took place on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 10 a.m. at the Mayor Beth Finch Park on Green Street. In March 2021, the City Council unanimously approved the renaming of Cross Creek Park to the Mayor Beth Finch Park.
“The city has a naming policy that has to be adhered to, and somebody makes a motion that goes to the city council,” said Michael Gibson, director of Fayetteville Cumberland Parks & Recreation. “In this case, Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Jensen made the motion a few years ago that we should have some dedication of a park to our first female mayor of Fayetteville.”
He added, “It is mainly for people who are deceased right now, and there are some instances where that has been changed. For the most part, that is the criterion, and there has to be some significance.”
The commemorative structure is comprised of shiny black marble and exudes the sophistication and elegance of Beth Finch.
“We designed it. It was a playoff of our former mayor, J. L. Dawkins, so we wanted to do the same kind of black marble monument for Mayor Finch with her bust on the front, the name of the park and a brief history of her major accomplishments on the back of the black marble monument,” said Gibson. “The monumental event for the unveiling included dignitaries, Finch’s family members and others.”
Gibson added, “The mayor, mayor pro tem, and Finch’s family members made some good remarks, and then we did the unveiling.”
Sarah Beth Dail Finch was born on November 13, 1921, in Dunn, North Carolina. She attended school in Dunn and graduated from preparatory school at Blackstone College in Blackstone, VA, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After graduating from UNC, Finch became a news reporter for the Dunn Dispatch and later, the Fayetteville Observer.
Finch served as Mayor of Fayetteville from 1975 to 1981. She won by a 6-1 margin over Larry Buie in one of more than 400 municipal elections held across the state. Ten years before her win, Finch stated that “no woman would have had a chance at being elected mayor in any North Carolina city.”
She attributed her victory to “being in this place at this time with the necessary experience” and that Fayetteville voters are very “modern and not afraid of change.”
She was passionate about supporting young people, education, having a strong city of economic growth and development, equality and building ties. Under her leadership, the city strengthened ties with Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base.
In the early 1960s, Finch became actively involved in politics. She served as co-chairman of the campaign headquarters for gubernatorial candidate Terry Sanford, and after his election, she served on the State Democratic Executive Committee. She served as the first female president of the NC League of Municipalities, the first woman on the Board of Trustees for FTI (now FTCC), and the first woman on the Board of Trustees for Pembroke State College (now University of North Carolina Pembroke).
She served two terms on the Fayetteville City Council. Other civic duties include the Governor’s Crime Commission, Fayetteville Regional Airport Commission, Women’s Club, the Book Club, the Art Guild, Museum of Art, Boy Scouts, United Way, the Salvation Army Advisory Board and other groups. Some of her accomplishments include the Distinguished Citizen’s Award from Methodist College.
She married Tom Finch, and they had one son, Hank Finch. She was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years. She never wavered from her marital promise to her husband that she would fix his breakfast every morning at 5:30 a.m. In her private time, she was an avid reader, golfer, UNC sports fan and old-fashioned Southern cook. She was a devout member of Snyder Memorial Baptist Church, where she taught Sunday School for several years. After politics, she took an active role in the family business, Finch Oil Company.
Finch, who was known for her persistence, had a paramount concern for those less fortunate and never spoke unkind words about others. She was a mentor and role model for generations of women. She passed away peacefully at the age of 91 in December 2012. Her legacy will be remembered as one of courage, persistence, and the positive changes that she enforced to make a difference in the lives of the people in the Fayetteville community.