TRAVERSE CITY -- Agnes Finch grows stronger by the day.
Finch's husband, former Traverse City Police Sgt. Dennis W. Finch, was shot and killed in the line of duty 10 years ago this week. His absence forced her to fend for herself, she said, and she became far more independent and outgoing than ever before.
But a lingering void still haunts Finch, 61, who lives in the rural Leelanau County home where she and her husband of 32 years raised their two daughters. The pain of her loss no longer consumes her, but it will never completely subside.
"(I'm) coming home from somewhere and wanting to tell somebody what happened, what I saw, what I did, and there's nobody here," she said. "I know it sounds silly, but I miss my dancing partner ... even having somebody else to cook for."
Dennis Finch, 52, died May 13, 1998. John Charles Clark shot Finch multiple times with an automatic weapon during a standoff the day before at Clark's Traverse City home.
Officers went to Clark's historic Wellington Street mansion after neighbors reported his erratic behavior, including wearing a handgun in a holster while he raked his lawn.
Finch, a 30-year Traverse City police veteran, is the only officer from that department to die in the line of duty. The Sgt. Dennis W. Finch Law Enforcement Center, a Woodmere Avenue facility that houses the city police and the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Department, is named for him.
Traverse City Police Chief Mike Warren, who worked with Finch for 26 years, remembers Finch as a friendly, dedicated cop who loved his job and never looked down on anyone.
"At the time of his death he had 30 years on with the department, and he still had as much enthusiasm as a young officer coming through the front door," Warren said. "Law enforcement was his career, and he strove to better himself every day of his career."
Thousands of people turned out for Finch's funeral. The procession left Traverse City and ended in Leelanau County's Solon Township Cemetery.
"I remember on the procession, leaving St. Francis church, that the sidewalks and highways were lined solid with people all the way out into Leelanau County, and even then there were people alongside the road," Warren said.
The loss "left a hole in everyone's heart" at the department, Warren said. A decade later, about half of the current 33-officer force worked with Finch. But even those who never knew him know of him.
"Nobody in this building can leave the locker room without looking directly at a memorial picture of Sgt. Finch," Warren said. "That's there to remind them every single day to be on their toes."
The police department and the Finch family provided crucial support to Agnes Finch, she said, and she remains close with both.
"To this day, the guys that he worked for would do anything if I asked them," she said.
Clark, 58, is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder at a prison in the Upper Peninsula's Chippewa County. A jury convicted Clark after a seven-day trial in December 1998, and his appeals failed.
Clark viciously defended his property and believed organized crime ran the police department, according to past Record-Eagle reports of trial testimony and witness statements.
His home was purchased in 1999 by Barb Rishel and her family. Rishel turned the building into a bed and breakfast and opened it as The Wellington Inn in 2003. Business is steady, she said, and few people ask questions about Finch's death.
"Most of my guests come from downstate or Chicago, so they don't know about it," she said.
Agnes Finch hopes people turn out for a blood drive planned in her husband's honor.
"It's the only donation that a person can give that doesn't cost them anything ... and it doesn't just help the police department, it helps everybody. There's always such a need for blood."
Blood drive
A blood drive in honor of the late Sgt. Dennis W. Finch will be held today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Grand Traverse Governmental Center on Boardman Avenue in Traverse City. Any healthy person who weighs 110 pounds or more and who has not given blood within the previous 56 days may be eligible to give blood. For more information call 231-935-3030.
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