Dolores Cowell Finch

1931 - 2020

(News story) Dolores Cowell Finch, whose Spanish language skills complemented her work in the export-import field, most notably with Meilink Safe Co., died Aug. 18 at Merit House nursing facility. She was 88.

She had dementia and had been in ill health recently, said her daughter, Michelle Finch Kerby.

"Mom's lived a really good life in a lot of ways," her daughter said.

Ms. Finch in her early 60s went to Honduras for immersion study, to bolster her fluency. Greeting her each dawn was a parrot repeating, "'Wake up, Monchito! Wake up!'" she told The Blade's Millie Benson in 1994.

"For a month, while I lived with a family in Copan and studied Spanish at the Ixbalanque Language School, that old bird's morning call was practically the only English I ever heard," she said in 1994.

Ms. Finch studied Spanish eight hours a day, five days a week.

She said that living in a private home required adjustment. She had her own room and bath, for instance, but there was no heated water for a shower and sometimes no water at all.

Yet the learning experience was wonderful, she said.

"My Spanish is far from perfect, but I now speak and read it well enough to get along anywhere," Ms. Finch said in 1994.

She studied Spanish at Scott High School and then at the University of Toledo. She began her career at L&E International, as the export management firm Lawrence & Erausquin Inc. was best known.

At Meilink Safe, her duties included freight and traffic, trade shows, product services, sales administration, and customer relations. She was promoted to the company's export manager in 1981. She later worked for Tri-State Expedited Service.

"She enjoyed the camaraderie, and she fulfilled a service that needed to be done, and she did it well," her daughter said. "My mother was extremely creative in a lot of different ways. She painted. She made jewelry. I don't think she would ever have done anything she didn't enjoy," her daughter said.

She was born Sept. 3, 1931, in Toledo to Willie Hazel and Stanley Cowell. They owned the Collingwood Motel, which included a record store, and what became George's Grill on Indiana Avenue, where a young Jon Hendricks performed. The family went to All Saints Episcopal Church.

"They were all extremely social," her daughter said. "Every weekend, there was some sort of soiree within the black community - the doctors, the dentists. They knew everybody."

Ms. Finch's father and future jazz piano great Art Tatum grew up together. The elder Mr. Cowell's son - her brother - is Stanley Cowell, a pianist, composer, and educator who has been a jazz artist of international acclaim for decades.

Her daughter sang for nine years with the Murphys, led by Clifford Murphy, the late jazz bassist.

"There's a rich history there," said Doug Swiatecki, who is working on a history of jazz in Toledo and spoke with her about the Cowell family and the community. "From an early age, she was tied into that heritage. She was a very gracious lady, intelligent and precise, willing to help."

She was formerly married to the late Archie Finch.

Surviving are her daughter, Michelle Kerby; brother, Stanley Cowell; sister, Esther Cowell, and two grandchildren.

Because of the pandemic, there are no services. The family suggests tributes to Cherry Street Mission Ministries.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.