Mary Jane Finley, 87, of Elkins, Arkansas, passed away Saturday, May 10, 2025, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  She was born on December 31, 1937, in Rogers, Arkansas, to Verna Jacobs.

She was a petite powerhouse who had a spark of love and light that was felt by everyone she met. Whether you knew her as Janie, Mary Jane, MJ or Gram'r, she always had a warm smile and a kind word.

Mary Jane's family started the Benton County Nursery, which was the first nursery in the area.  Raised by a single mother, she started boarding school at age four at St. Anns in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  She graduated from Rogers High School a year early.  She then attended Stephens College for two years before leaving for the bright lights of New York City to attend Yale University the first year they accepted women.  She was invited back each year as a jewel in their crown.  She majored in english and teaching with a minor in acting, her lifelong passion.  She was selected to travel with an acting troupe that went to several European countries for the World's Fair.  During that time in Germany, she tried pizza for the first time, bought a few yards of hand-stitched lace made by nuns in Belgium and got to meet Harry Belafonte.

Mary Jane lived in many places in the U.S., but her heart never left The Ozarks.  She mostly participated in community theater groups.  Her most notable role was on a short-lived, nationally broadcasted, Wal-Mart radio show.  She was instrumental in starting Sugar Creek Days and NWACC while she worked as Executive Director of The Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce.  She worked for The Arkansas World Trade Center until she retired in 2014.  Mary lived in Rogers after her retirement, but she soon moved to Elkins to return to the quiet country life surrounded by family and pets.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Verna Faber and her great granddaughter, Ella Grayce.  Her legacy includes three children, David Lee Finley, Elizabeth Ann Finley Sanchez, and Mary Katherine Finley, five grandchildren, Mary Lorissa Lowry, Damia Walker, TJ Sanchez, Siah Walker, and Dale Alan Smith Junior, and four great grandchildren, Lilliana Jane Lowry, Kinley Lowry, Konner Meeks and Paislee Meeks.  Mary's family were her world.

Mary Jane is resting peacefully in Rogers Cemetery.  Donations to cancer research and prenatal death prevention would be appreciated by her family. She will be remembered as a most beloved mother, grandmother and friend.  The family asks that you remember to "throw kindness like confetti."

Arrangements are under the direction of Benton County Memorial Park & Funeral Home in Rogers, Arkansas