Joan Finney

Joan Finney
42nd Governor of Kansas
In office January 14, 1991 – January 9, 1995
Lieutenant	Jim Francisco
Preceded by	Mike Hayden
Succeeded by	Bill Graves
33rd Treasurer of Kansas
In office January 6, 1975 – January 14, 1991
Governor	Robert Bennett John Carlin Mike Hayden
Preceded by	Tom Van Sickle
Succeeded by	Sally Thompson
Personal details
Born	(1925-02-12)February 12, 1925 Topeka, Kansas, U.S.
Died	July 28, 2001(2001-07-28) (aged 76) Topeka, Kansas, U.S.
Political party	Republican (Before 1974) Democratic (1974–2001)
Spouse	Spencer Finney
Alma mater	Washburn University

Joan Finney (February 12, 1925 – July 28, 2001), served as the 42nd Governor of Kansas from 1991 to 1995.

She was born Joan Marie McInroy in Topeka, Kansas, the daughter of Leonard and Mary Sands McInroy. She graduated from high school in Manhattan, Kansas in 1942. In 1957, she married Spencer Finney, Jr. and had three children, Sarah "Sally" Finney Timm, Richard Finney, and Mary Finney Holladay. In 1978, she graduated from Washburn University with a degree in economic history. From 1953 to 1969, she served on the staff of Republican U.S. Senator Frank Carlson. From 1970 to 1972, she served as Commissioner of Elections for Shawnee County, Kansas. In 1972, running as a Republican, she was an unsuccessful candidate for a U.S. House seat in Kansas's 2nd congressional district. She also served as a Special Assistant to Topeka Mayor Bill McCormick.

After switching her political affiliation from Republican to Democrat, she served as the first female Kansas State Treasurer from 1975 to 1991. Her staff her first term as Treasurer included Nancy Claggett and Kathleen Boston Cole McCune as Deputies. After upsetting former Governor John W. Carlin in the 1990 Democratic primary for Governor, she defeated incumbent Republican Mike Hayden in the general election becoming the first woman to defeat an incumbent Governor in a general election in the United States.

In addition to being the State of Kansas's first female governor, she was Kansas' oldest governor, taking office at age 65, Kansas' first Roman Catholic Governor, and also one of the few pro-life Democratic Governors of her time

Following her term as Governor, in 1996, she ran for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Bob Dole, but was defeated in the Democratic primary by Jill Docking, who gained 74% of the primary vote, and subsequently lost the general election to Sam Brownback.

She died in 2001 from complications of liver cancer at the St Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Topeka, and is buried in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Topeka.

External links

• Find-A-Grave profile for Joan Finney