William Preston Houseal Fincher

Columbia, South Carolina – William Preston Houseal Fincher, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle, godfather and friend, passed peacefully to eternal life on August 14, 2021 at home with his family at his side. A lifelong Columbian, Bill was born on July 22, 1938 and was the second son of Ruth Sumner Houseal Fincher and Hubert Thomas Fincher.

He spent his early years living with his family in Ballentine on the shores of Lake Murray where he shared many wonderful (and mischievous) adventures with his older brother Tom, and in the Eau Claire, Heathwood and Shandon neighborhoods of Columbia, where he formed many enduring and cherished lifelong friendships. He was a graduate of Dreher High School (facilitated by a formative year at the Carlisle Military School in Bamberg, SC) where he was a member of The Dark Horsemen Club, and was a proud alumnus of the University of South Carolina, where he studied Business Administration and was one of the few married members of the Kappa Alpha Order. Bill married his high school sweetheart, Carole Ann Crolley, in the summer of his sophomore year in college and they were married for 17 years.

Bill worked all his life, starting as a pre-teenager filling grocery orders in the neighborhood market at Trenholm and Beltline, delivering The State and the Columbia Record newspapers and selling home address signs in Shandon and Heathwood made from license plate materials by the prisoners at CCI. He began his long business career while at USC, working part time at the Claude Creason Company and at Lane, Taylor and Wolfe. Throughout his life, Bill credited Mr. Creason and the gentlemen at Lane, Taylor and Wolfe with teaching him valuable lessons in insurance and real estate. After positions with Aetna and Pennsylvania Lumbermen’s Mutual, he opened his own insurance firm, The Fincher Agency in the 1960’s and spent the rest of his career in insurance and real estate before retiring in 2018.

A devoted family man and sincere friend to many, Bill never met a stranger and was the life of any party. He always had a funny story to share, a favorite recipe to cook and a shoulder to lean on. He loved dogs (most especially his trusty canine companion, Fred) and people, Litchfield Beach and Pawleys Island, any decent grocery store (and in his later years, a good estate sale) and the Carolina Gamecocks, all in equal measure. He was predeceased by his parents, his brother James Edward Fincher and his beloved son, William Preston Houseal Fincher, Jr. He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Rebecca Caskey Fincher, daughters Melita Fincher DaSilva (Robert) and Lauren Ann Fincher, grandchildren William Middleton IV, Sumner Elizabeth Arbuckle and Thomas Preston Rives Middleton, stepdaughter Paige Cook Alexander (Chris), step-grandchildren Gracyn Rebekah Alexander, Christian John Joseph Alexander, Robert Hale DaSilva (“Sully”) and William Brooks DaSilva (“Kackie”), great-grandson Henry Hale DaSilva, his brother Hubert Thomas Fincher, Jr. (Clare) and sister Melita Fincher deTreville, nieces Susan Fincher Zais (Mitchell) and Sheryl Fincher, brother-in-law Daniel Joseph Caskey (Teresa) and nephew William Daniel Caskey.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 19, 2021 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 1715 Bull Street in Columbia. Burial following the service will be private. Visitation with the family will be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 18 at the home of Lita and Robbie DaSilva, 830 Hampton Hill Road in Columbia.

The Fincher family wishes to thank MSA Hospice, Comfort Keepers, Lataral Lewis and Aretha Brown for their gentle and loving care. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, The Columbia Humane Society, 121 Humane Lane, Columbia, S.C. 29209, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church or to the charity of one’s choice.

“The night unveils new worlds of light; and to know that if I could unwrap fold after fold of God’s universe I should only unfold more and more blessings, and see deeper and deeper into the love which is at the heart of it all.”

Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. Memories may be shared at www.dunbarfunerals.com