Antoinette Nina Finn

In the 99th year of her life, on Wednesday, the 18th of November 2020, Antoinette “Nina” Finn, loving wife of Jack Finn, mother of three, grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of nine, having fought the good fight, returned to the outstretched arms of her Creator.

Growing up, Nina Finn danced in the Arthur Murray Dance studios in Manhattan. Later she worked at Bloomingdale’s in New York, starting as a Christmas Elf and rising to department head. In 1993, Nina retired from Bloomingdale’s after forty years. After her retirement and the death of her husband, Nina moved to Maryland and established residence at Oak Crest Village, a continuous care retirement community in Parkville, Maryland. A twenty-three year resident of Oak Crest, Nina was naturally outgoing, a party girl with a quick sense of humor. Nina excelled at bingo and dominoes, played on the Oak Crest Wii Bowling League, and was a flamboyant member of the Oak Crest Drama Club. Nina enjoyed active membership in the Oak Crest Catholic Faith Community and assisted with their pastoral ministries. Nina was also a long-time member of the Catholic Daughters of America and the Holy Rosary Society.

Nina was born Antonia Zabovich on July 17, 1921 in Chester, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Croatian immigrants, Dominick and Mattea Zabovich (nee Rancich). Nina’s brother, Florian Zabovich, and sister, Teresa Zabovich Russo, preceded her in death. After the early death of her mother, she was raised by her aunt, Antonia Rancich Szoke and her husband Peter. Since baby Antonia shared her mother’s first name, her parents called her “Nina.”

With the subsequent death of her adoptive father, her adoptive mother married Rudy Louin, and Nina entered Guardian Angel Elementary School in lower Manhattan, New York City as Nina Louin, where the good sisters assumed Nina was short for Antoinette. Throughout grade school at Guardian Angel and Public School Number 11, and then at Straubenmuller Textile High School, she showed up on the rolls as Antoinette “Nina” Louin and the name stuck.

Nina met her future husband, John “Jack” Finn, at Midland Beach on New York’s Staten Island. They married on August 29, 1942 at Guardian Angel Church on Tenth Avenue and 21st Street in New York City. While living in Astoria, Queens, Nina and Jack had three children: Thomas Gerard Finn, Virginia Margaret Finn, and Suzanne Marie Finn. The family later moved to Hollis, Queens in 1953 and then to Grasmere, Staten Island in 1967. Their son Thomas married Alda Frascino in 1967, and they currently reside in Burke, Virginia. Virginia married Roy Van Brunt in 1969, and they currently reside in Estero, Florida. Suzanne married John Weiss in 1973, and they currently reside in Columbia, Maryland.

After the marriages of their three children, Nina and Jack became the proud grandparents of six grandchildren: John and Alexandra Finn, Cristin and Roy Van Brunt, and Nina and Sally Weiss.

Unfortunately, Jack’s passing on December 2, 1994, deprived him of witnessing the subsequent marriages of their six grandchildren and the births of their great grandchildren. Nina – and Jack, in spirit – currently have nine great grandchildren: Kylie and Maggie Miller of Ashburn, Virginia; Autumn, Eva, and Dale Peacock of San Antonio, Texas; Annabelle McElroy of Arlington, Virginia; Thomas and Andrew Van Brunt of Dania Beach, Florida; and Emmitt Zack of McHenry, Illinois.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Oak Crest Catholic Faith Community or the Oak Crest Employee Appreciation Fund. The address for both is: Oak Crest Village, 8820 Walther Boulevard, Parkville, MD 21234.

You can view Nina Finn’s funeral Mass via a live stream at 12 noon on Friday, the 4th of December 2020 at: http://stjohnscolumbiamd.org/streaming/ (You may need to scroll down the home page to view the video stream.) You can also watch the service at: https://boxcast.tv/channel/b3nxkgf3c2eixk1gzr5y. If you miss the Friday noon service window, you can still view the funeral Mass at a later date on these sites.