The Millsaps College community mourns the loss of Bishop Homer Ellis Finger Jr., president of Millsaps from 1952-1964, who died Sunday, May 25, in Asheville, N.C., where he lived. A memorial service will be held in Asheville at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 4, in the Norma F. Pulliam Memorial Chapel at Givens Estates. Groce Funeral Home in Asheville is in charge of arrangements.
Bishop Finger was known for navigating tense times in the church and state with race relations. As Millsaps president, he summed up the position of the college when he said, "College students have a right to hear various points of view. They are more mature in their judgment than they are sometimes credited with…Millsaps College has its weaknesses…but indoctrination is not one of our weaknesses." By 1965, voluntary integration occurred at Millsaps without violence.
Millsaps alumni from Bishop Finger's era as president remember that he memorized the name of every student enrolled and invited each student to his home in small groups to get to know them. He lived in what is now the English house.
Bishop Finger is among Millsaps College's eight bishops honored with a scholarship. The Millsaps United Methodist Bishops Scholarship assists entering United Methodist students who exhibit outstanding leadership and service in their school, church or community.
Born October 8, 1916 in Ripley, Miss., he was the son of the late Homer Ellis Finger and Bertha Rogers Finger and was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Mamie Lee Ratliff Finger in 2006.
He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Millsaps College and received a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University Divinity School. He held honorary degrees from five colleges.
He was pastor of the Coldwater and Oxford University United Methodist churches before his election as president of Millsaps College. He served as a chaplain for the United States Naval Reserve during World War II.
He was elected in 1964 to the Episcopacy in the United Methodist Church and served in the Nashville, Episcopal area for 12 years and the Holston area in Knoxville, Tenn. for eight years.
Bishop Finger's church-wide ministries include the chair of the Commission on Deaconesses, chair of the Commission on Chaplains and Related Ministries, president of General Council of Finance and Administration, chair of Division of Health and Welfare Ministries and on the Board of Global Ministries. He was president of the Council of Bishops 1980-1981 and after his retirement in 1984, he served as administrative assistant secretary to the Council of Bishops for twelve years.
Bishop Finger is survived by two sons, Homer Ellis Finger III, and his wife Phyllis, of Easton, Penn., and William Ratliff Finger, and his wife Georgia, of Raleigh, N.C.; daughter, Elizabeth Ellen Finger, and her husband Richard Vander Veen of Arden, N.C.; and five grandchildren.
