Within eight months after high school graduation, she spread her wings and relocated first to Seattle, Washington where she was employed by Fredrick & Nelson as an order processing clerk. Then in April of 1961, Finnegan married her Air Force husband, stationed in Texas, later transferring to Arizona, and finally returning with her family to Anaconda in November 1965. Housewife, mother, professional seamstress, and secretary-bookkeeper, Finnegan works as a secretary for St. Paul’s Parish and Warm Springs State Hospital.

While engaged in local historical research for Deer Lodge County, she, along with Margaret Mullen and Sister Marilyn Wegscheider, co-founded the Tri-County Historical Society (presently the Marcus Daly Historical Society), and served as it’s volunteer director until 1988.

Finnegan honed her interests in historical research as a federal census worker and professional genealogist. It was during this time that she realized the unique community within Anaconda’s boundary known as “Goosetown” needed its history more closely researched, and, after receiving a grant from the American Association for State & Local History began the Goosetown Oral History Project. Although life had inserted several stumbling blocks, which delayed the completion of this labor of love, it is now being presented for your reading pleasure and enjoyment.