Michael Patrick Finn (Mike), 66, of Belton, Texas, passed away on July 5, 2020 surrounded by family after a short battle with a rare and aggressive cancer. He fought it to the last. Mike was born in Heidelberg, Germany to Command Sergeant Major James Patrick Finn and Toni Gaynor Neiman Finn, igniting a lifelong love for Germany and a commitment to military service. He is survived by Amy Flinn, his wife of 39 years, daughters Julia Finn of Austin, TX and Anna Finn of Santa Cruz, CA, and son Jim Finn and wife Anja of San Antonio, TX. Mike leaves behind many loving family members and friends (most of whom he greeted with an enthusiastic “hey, wild man!”) and many grand pets, all of whom he tolerated with good humor (and probably secretly loved). Mike was an Army brat, but he spent his high school years in Queens, New York and identified as a New Yorker until he switched his allegiance to Texas later in life. He was a scholarship student at The Dalton School and attended St. John’s University for three years before leaving to enlist in the Army. After arriving in Texas (on the front end of his duffel bag, as he always put it), he graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Mary Hardin Baylor and earned his juris doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. At UT, he met Amy through the good offices of alphabetical seating in one of their classes. (I bet you thought her name was misspelled earlier - it really is Flinn, just one letter different, and yes, they’ve been confusing people for more than forty years.) After graduating law school, he became a member of the State Bar of Texas and was commissioned a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps and assigned to Fort Hood. He never left. Over the years, Mike has worn many hats (and bought hundreds more - he really loved hats, helmets and anything you could refer to as “gear”). Since 1986, he worked at least two jobs, one as the civilian contract attorney in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, III Corps & Fort Hood and the other as a military officer in the National Guard and later the Army Reserves. Mike deployed overseas three times, to Hungary in 1995-6 to support Operation Joint Guard, 2002-3 for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and in 2005-6 for Operation Enduring Freedom. During his deployment to Iraq he completed a master’s degree in Strategic Studies at the US Army War College. After more than forty years of total military service, he retired in 2014 as a colonel. Mike was a good soldier, a master strategist, and a great commander who mapped the promotion paths for his subordinates with care and diligence. In 2001, Mike spent several months in New York City finalizing a housing contract for Fort Hood. When the planes hit the World Trade Center, he fashioned a makeshift uniform and went to Ground Zero to help support the rescue efforts and lead a group of volunteers. He was the kind of person who ran toward the emergency, not away from it. In his free time, Mike enjoyed supporting his children and spent many years as a Cub and Boy Scout leader as well as a senior member in the Civil Air Patrol. He logged hundreds of early morning miles running with his daughters Anna and Julia. He was a patient teacher, particularly at the gun range with his own children and really anyone who wandered up with an interest in shooting. He earned many awards throughout his career (the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, to name just a few), but he always said that his greatest achievement was his children and that he was proud that they were better people than he would ever hope to be. They would beg to differ, but this is his obituary and he gets the final word. If you can’t tell, Mike was funny, and with his easy laugh he made you feel like you were funny too. He was also fun, a daredevil who was always game to travel abroad, jump out of a plane, zipline, parasail, tube the river, monitor frogs, turtles and snakes, throw a frisbee, have a super soaker fight, or play a board game. He was generous to a fault and worked hard for his family his entire life. He is gone too soon, but he has earned his rest. The family would like to thank the good folks in the Vasicek Cancer Treatment Center and ICU at Baylor Scott and White Hospital for engaging in the battle and taking such good care of him, even as the coronavirus pandemic made providing care much more difficult. A celebration of Mike's life, with military honors, will be held at 10AM on Saturday, October 16, 2021 at North Belton Cemetery. Nobody ever went hungry on Mike’s watch, and so memorial donations may be made to Tiny Hope Village (https://tinyhopevillage.org/donate) or your local food bank to help support those suffering homelessness or facing food insecurity during this difficult time.