Life well-lived includes service to country

Florence Ebersole Smith Finch, now a resident at Oak Hill Manor on Ithaca's South Hill, celebrated her 100th birthday on October 11. She was born in the Philippines, the daughter of a Filipino mother and an American father who had come to the Philippines with the United States Army during the Spanish-American War and settled there.

After high school, Florence went to work for Major E. Carl Engelhart at the U.S. Army Intelligence Headquarters in Manila. While employed there, she met Charles Edward Smith, USN, and married him on August 19, 1941. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Charles reported to his P.T. boat for duty and was killed in action on February 8, 1942.

During the time that Florence was employed by the Japanese-controlled Philippine Liquid Fuel Distributing Union, she worked closely with the Philippine Underground, diverting fuel supplies to the resistance as well as assisting in arranging acts of sabotage against the Japanese occupation forces. Meanwhile, her immediate boss, E.C. Engelhart, had been captured, and Florence heard through the grapevine how badly he and other prisoners of the Japanese were being treated by their captors. She and others began to assist the prisoners as best they could, smuggling food and medicine to them, but Florence was caught and arrested in October, 1944. She was imprisoned and tortured before being sent to Bilibid Prison. After a sham-trial, she was sentenced to three years of hard labor, and sent to the Women’s Correctional Institution in Mandaluong on the outskirts of Manila.

Florence was liberated by American forces on February 10, 1945. She then decided to move to New York to be with her father’s sister and arrived in May of that year. Not having any luck at finding work, Florence enlisted in the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, to, as she says, “Avenge the death of my husband.” While she was stationed in Buffalo Harbor, her activities in the Philippines became known to her superiors, and Florence was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon, the first woman to be so decorated. In November, 1947, Florence was awarded the Medal of Freedom, in no small part due to the testimony of her former boss, E.C. Engelhart, after he had also been liberated.

Florence later married an Army veteran, Robert Thornton Finch, and they became parents to Betty Finch Murphy, of Ithaca, and Bob Finch, currently living in Denver. Robert died in 1968.  Florence has six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Of her wartime activities, Florence says, “I feel very humble because my activities in the war effort were trivial compared with those of the people who gave their lives for their country.” In 1955 the Coast Guard honored Florence’s service when it named an administration building on a base on Sand Island, Hawaii, after her. When I asked Florence to please tell me her most memorable experience during her military service, she told me it would be when she and 4,000 others boarded the USS Eberle to come to the United States to start new lives.

A good deal of the information shared here with you was provided from a public service article written by the United States Coast Guard.  The entire article can be seen at http://www.uscg.mil/history/people/florencefinchbio.asp.

I would like to mention how honored I felt to meet Florence, for she is a truly lovely, and very quietly dignified, hero.

Harvest festival

The Caroline Center Church will be holding its Harvest Festival from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 24 at 719 Buffalo Road in Brooktondale. There will be food, music, an auction, crafters and more.  Proceeds from the fair will be used to help with the church’s winter heating bills.

Book sale

The Newfield Public Library, located on Main Street, will be holding a book “bag sale” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 24. You pick out your books and pay $1 for as many as you can fit in a plastic shopping bag!

Lean into love

I received the following information from Liz Scott, who recently took over the position of Administrative Assistant for Bereavement Services at Hospicare.  There will be a program held for anyone 18 years of age or older called “Leaning into Love, Ritual and Music in Times of Grief” from 10:00 a.m. to noon, Saturday, October 24, in the Nina K. Miller Hospicare Center at 172 East King Road.  This event acknowledges those we miss and the changes loss has made in our lives, and will be led by bereavement writer and hospice volunteer Elaine Mansfield and Hospicare music specialist Jayne Demakos. Register by calling 272-0212.

Fundraiser for Charlie

The Danby Volunteer Fire Department will be holding a spaghetti dinner and bake sale fundraiser for one its own, Charlie Robinson, of Danby, who has been battling health issues and is still recovering from recent surgery. A spaghetti dinner will be served at the fire station on Danby Road from 4 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 24. The cost is $8. If you would like to contribute baked items please deliver them to the fire station after 3 p.m.

Southern Tompkins Town Talk appears weekly in the Ithaca Journal. Contact Gay Huddle at 273-6530 or at gayhuddle@hotmail.com with stories from the Danby, West Danby, Newfield, South Hill and Brooktondale neighborhoods.