William L. Finley, Sr. was born on July 2, 1939, to his parents Edith and Charles M. Finley, Sr. in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. As a young boy he grew up in St. Louis and lived in Higbee, Missouri as well as parts of Hawaii. He graduated from Beaumont High School at the age of 16 and the following year enlisted in the U.S. Army. While he was in the military, his mom wrote letters to him about what she was learning from the bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. He requested an early discharge from the military and due to his good standing, the request was granted. After returning home, he lived in the basement of his sister Gertrude’s home where they held book study. He sat in on one of those studies where he became interested in learning about Jehovah. Brother Walter Gray aided Bill in the truth prior to his baptism on August 9, 1962.

After leaving the military he went to trade school and obtained a degree in welding and drafting. Through the Urban League he went to baking school. Those skills would later become useful as Bill worked in the kitchen at the religious convention deep frying chicken. This is where he met his wife, Maxine, who was also working as a volunteer. Later after having a family, he volunteered working in the kitchen at the St. Louis Assembly Hall making sheet cakes and biscuits for the brothers and sisters. He also had the privilege of working on several Kingdom Hall projects with the tile crew alongside brother Charlie Davidson and Craig Green.

Bill worked for the U.S. Postal Service and finally United Parcel Service, where he worked for 36 years before retiring. Some of his hobbies included archery, building model cars, fishing, gardening, working with electronics, building CB radios, photography, and woodworking, but most of all he loved talking to people about the Bible. Bill served as an elder in the Hazelwood congregation for many years and later at the Creve Coeur congregation.
Bill married Maxine Shead on August 10, 1963. They were married 60 1/2 years, during which they became parents to four children: Patricia Renee, Bill, Jr., Felicia, and David.

Bill is survived by his wife Maxine, his two sons, Bill, Jr. and David, his daughter Felicia, his two daughters-in-law, Venee, and Moñica, five grandchildren, as well as many nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his siblings, Darlene Higdon, Gertrude A. Abernathy, Charles M. Finley, Jr., and his daughter Patricia Renee Finley.