Our Rotarian of the Week loves to sing. He believes that his most important role now in Rotary is to bring guests to our meetings and encourage membership. He was born into an Irish and Macedonian-Bulgarian household, which included his grandmother who refused to speak English. He barely knew his father, who served in WWII in the South Pacific and died after the War when this Rotarian was age 5. His mom remarried when he was fifty, he gave her away at the wedding. His childhood was spent in Speedway, Indiana, home of the raceway for the Indy 500. His first jobs were working at the Speedway. He graduated from Speedway High School in a class of one hundred. His formative experiences growing up were his involvement in Boy Scouts, where he achieved Eagle Scout.
Our Rotarian graduated from Purdue University and while working in construction he interviewed with a Fort Collins bank President who, impressed by this Eagle Scout, said he would hire him if he took some business classes. He did that, graduating from Colorado State University and beginning a lifelong career in the financial industry working for CPAs, working as a stockbroker, and as a commercial banker.
His first marriage, while at Purdue, included a trip to Wyoming and Colorado, where they settled in Fort Collins. But his wife took him into the farming business back in Indiana with his father-in-law, raising hogs, corn, and soybeans. He enjoyed farming but the marriage did not work out, so he returned to Colorado.
He worked in banking and investments in Fort Collins, Denver, Longmont, and Colorado Springs. He also pursued a love of singing and acting, performing in local productions of Fiddler on the Roof and Damn Yankees, among others. He joined the Longmont Rotary Club in 1991 and served as President of that Club.
He retired from banking, tried golf, but realized he missed working, and returned. He was hired as a commercial lender by Western Vista Credit Union and commuted for three and a half years from Loveland before moving to Cheyenne eight years ago. He has been at Western Vista for 11 and a half years.
He met his wife Margi in Colorado, where she had a long career in the mortgage banking industry. They have been married for 42 years. She has been retired from the mortgage business for four years.
He was our Club President in 2018-2019. It was the 100th anniversary of the Club and he is very proud of the accomplishments that year, which included the Centennial dinner, the first gutter bins, Crow Creek revival, the beginning of monthly social hours, and the progressive dinner. He says that he could not have been President without the staunch support of Robin Sims and a solid Board of Directors. That support made it possible for him to work and to be able to succeed as President. He continues to be a very active Rotarian. He and his wife, Margi, are both Paul Harris Fellows and he is a member of the Paul Harris Society. He is involved in the Cheyenne community and will sing at the appropriate occasion.
Please join me in honoring our Rotarian of the Week, Mick Finnegan.
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