Ernie was born September 27, 1932, in Bates County, Missouri, son of Bert Edward and Cecil Delia (Stitt) Fink. Ernie grew up in Bates County, on the family farm, and attended school at Woodland, a rural one-room school.
Ernie was united in marriage to Anna Marie (Hartman) Fink on August 3rd, 1953 in Louisburg, KS at the Catholic church. Ernie and Ree moved east of Drexel and started their life farming and ranching south of the Woodland school house, near his parents.
Ernie and Ree had two children, Joseph Edward Fink and Lorrie Jane (Fink) Cook, they were raised on the farm where they learned their hard work ethic and their love for family. Even though the farm life was hard work, Ernie always made it fun and had time to coach many baseball teams. On many occasions Ernie would go from the field to the baseball diamond, he would clean up with a bucket of water and a washcloth on the way to the game.
In 1981, Ernie and Ree purchased the Skelly Station where he served the community for 15 years, not only did Ernie provide a service to the adults but he provided endless amounts of bubble gum to the children. After running the station Ernie worked for Rural Water District #4 for 20 years, while helping Joe custom hay which was always a highlight of Ernie’s summer.
Ernie and Ree left the farm in 1982 after purchasing the station, they moved into Dr. Hartwell’s home where they lived for 15 years. During this time their four grandchildren (BryAnn, Adrianne, Amy, & Shane) enjoyed their corner home a block from main street. Ernie enjoyed spending endless hours with his grandchildren, many memories involved the cabin, Sunday dinners, the moped, and as the grandchildren grew older he followed their sport careers and took great pride in all of their accomplishments.
If you knew Ernie you would know that he was an avid Boston Red Sox fan, Republican, and loved to tell the story of Joe’s 1973 football state championship game.Then later the state championship story changed to be about the undefeated 1996 girls’ basketball team, he had 3 granddaughters on that team if you didn’t know it. Ernie also liked to reminisce about Joe and his pole vaulting career, which later turned into watching Shane compete at State Track and Field.
Ernie is preceded in death by his son Joe, siblings Frank and Edna Van Vlack, and his parents. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Anna Marie Fink of their home in Drexel, daughter Lorrie and husband Bryon Cook and daughter-in-law Dixie Fink all of Drexel. Ernie is also survived by his four grandchildren and their families, BryAnn (Chris) Middleton of Harrisonville, Adrianne (Alan) Lane of Louisburg, Amy (Tyson) Basore of Butler, and Shane Fink of Drexel. Along with eight great grandchildren, Sami Lane, Kennedy Middleton, Camryn Lane, Claire Fink, Gunnar Basore, Cole Fink, Reagan Middleton, and Payton Basore, as well as many extended family members and dear friends.
