Don R. Fink Remembered: Tabitha Early Remembers

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tabitha Early Remembers

"I have always loved him. He was my favorite. He stood up for me at school and taught art classes. He let me hang out with him there after hours. He always bought me pop. I owe him like thousands of dollars in 50 cent increments. He taught me many dirty jokes.

"But most of all, I'll remember his drawings. He just sent me some that he drew of Beck and Mazy right before he went into the hospital. This was different than any picture he's ever drawn. They weren't comic. It was just a sweet picture. On it he wrote, "Can't draw an ugly picture of pretty kids." These will always be special to me.

"I have a family portrait that he drew of us when I was pregnant with Mazy. It's hilarious and of course I'm barefoot and pregnant, Scott is bald, and Beck is running around with an axe to chop down the trees because he's a little logger.

"He will be but will live on in Beck and Mazy's memories because I'm going to make sure that they always remember Pops. I love you, Pops."

~Tabitha Early, granddaughter

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In Memoriam

Texarkana, Tex. – Don R. Fink, 81, of Texarkana, Tex., died of natural causes at Dubuis Hospital on Friday, August 22, 2008.

Mr. Fink was born on Feb. 16, 1927 in Mount Hope, West Virginia .

In 1933, Mr. Fink’s mother began regularly attending the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses and took her three children with her to services every week. Mr. Fink attended these meetings throughout the remainder of his life and could frequently be found ministering to others from house to house.

After graduating high school, Mr. Fink attended the University of Akron and received a bachelor of fine arts degree.

At 21, Mr. Fink attended a dance where he met the Frieda Mae Ullrich. “It was love at first sight,” Mr. Fink said often. The couple wed a week later on Feb. 16, 1949 in Catlettsburg, Kentucky and remained married for 58 years. Together they raised eight children.

Throughout his life, Mr. Fink was an industrious worker and oftentimes worked two jobs to support his large family. During the early years of his marriage, he worked as a press operator for Ford Motor Company in Cleveland, Ohio. Later, he worked as a maintenance employee for Day and Night Heating and Air in California. At the same time, he also operated a landscaping business with his two eldest sons, Michael and Patrick.

Mr. and Mrs. Fink moved their family to Texarkana, Ark. in 1974. Later, the couple became managers of the historic Hotel Grim.

Despite years of working manual labor, however, Mr. Fink always returned to his art. In the twilight of his life, he volunteered his time at Red Lick School, teaching students basic art. “He enjoyed it so much, he taught several classes and in return he received hundreds of thank you cards from the students,” said his daughter, Pamela Austin.

“He had a sense of humor that got him through many tough times,” Mrs. Austin said. Mr. Fink’s granddaughter, Jaime Hurley, recounted the way he seemed to have a joke for every occasion, even when he was in the hospital at the very end of his life. “He made people laugh up until the end,” she said.

Mr. Fink was preceded in death by his parents, Homer Fink and Wreathel Champe Fink; his wife, Frieda Mae Fink; two sons, Dennis Fink and Michael Fink; one daughter, Dianna Pillow; and one granddaughter, Dianna Ray Pillow.

Survivors include two sons, Patrick Fink of Texarkana, Ark., and David Fink of Ethridge, Tenn., three daughters, Deborah Fisher of Jacksonville, Ark., Pamela Austin of Texarkana, Tex., and Rachael Jones of Maineville, Ohio, one sister, Barbara Christall of Glendale, Ariz.; 15 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and a number of other relatives.

Services will be 2 p.m. Saturday at Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Nash, Texas with Dexter Hughes officiating.

Relatives will be at the home of Pamela and James Austin, 9101 N. Kings Hwy., Texarkana, Tex., 75503.