Finley Woolston's voice is very familiar across Eastern
North Carolina to listeners of WTEB 89.3 FM, Public Radio East's News and
Classical Music station. For over 20 years Finley has hosted a variety of
classical programs and currently is the popular classical music announcer for
PRE's Classical Morning Concert, heard each weekday morning from 9:00 am to 12
noon. Finley is also the producer and host The Choral
Tradition, a program dedicated exclusively to choral music,heard
each Sunday at 3:00 p.m. on PRE. In addition to his performing schedule, church
duties and responsibilities on Public Radio East, he is frequently asked to act
as Master of Ceremonies for numerous community events. |
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Finley was born and raised on the farms and small towns of Nebraska and
Kansas. Within a few short months of high school graduation in 1966 he
moved to California. He soon enlisted in the United States Marine
Corps in early 1967 and was initially assigned as a radio
operator, he was changed to infantry and completed basic rifleman
training at Camp Pendleton, CA. He then volunteered for and completed
reconnaissance training and was assigned to 5th Reconnaissance
Battalion in Camp Pendleton, CA. He was transferred to the
Republic of Viet Nam in September 1967 and served a 13 month tour as a
rifleman with 2nd Battalion 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. Upon
returning to the United States and promotion to Corporal, he was
assigned to 1st Battalion 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division at Camp
Lejeune, NC.
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In early 1969 he volunteered for and completed training as a Marine
Security Guard at Henderson Hall, Arlington, VA and was assigned to the Marine
Security Guard Detachment, U.S. Embassy, Ottawa, Canada. He was promoted to
Sergeant and re-enlisted for assignment as a Counterintelligence Specialist. He
completed the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Agent Course at Fort Huachuca, AZ in
1971 and was assigned to the 3rd Counterintelligence Team, 3rd Marine Division
in Okinawa. He next served from 1972-1976 with the 11th Counterintelligence
Team, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. While there he
completed advanced training in counterintelligence and was promoted to Staff
Sergeant. In 1975 he was assigned to Naval Investigative Service/Naval
Intelligence and served on special assignment in conjunction with the fall of
Saigon, Republic of South Viet Nam. In 1976 he returned to the Marine Security
Guard Battalion as a Detachment Commander and was assigned to the U.S. Embassy,
Lagos, Nigeria. |
In 1977 he was chosen to open a new Marine Security
Guard Detachment at the U.S. Embassy in Lusaka, Zambia and became the first
member of the U.S. Armed Forces to be stationed in that country. By 1980 he had
been promoted to Gunnery Sergeant and returned to Okinawa for his second
assignment with the 3rd Counterintelligence Team. He was then transferred to the
III Marine Amphibious Force on Okinawa as the Staff Counterintelligence Chief.
In 1985 he transferred to the United States Navy as a Chief Petty Officer and
completed basic and advanced training as a Religious Program Specialist. He
served in Upstate New York from 1982-1985, together with a U.S. Navy Chaplain,
as a two man team responsible for recruiting civilian clergy from the entire
northeastern United States into the Navy Chaplain Corps. He was promoted to
Senior Chief Petty Officer and in 1985 assigned as the Senior Religious Program
Specialist, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, NC. He retired and transferred to
the Fleet Reserve in 1988.
His personal awards and decorations include:
Navy Achievement Medal with Combat “V” (two awards); Combat Action Ribbon; Naval
Unit Citation (two awards); Meritorious Unit Citation; Humanitarian Action
Medal; Viet Nam Service Medal; Viet Nam Campaign Medal; Vietnamese Cross of
Gallantry; Navy Good Conduct; Marine Corps Good Conduct; Expert Rifle; and
Expert Pistol.
Woolston has been married for 35 years to Karen Kealey
Woolston of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Karen is a GS-11 serving as the head of
civilian training at Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune, NC. Their son, John, is a
U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer in the Seabees currently assigned as technical
support to a Special Warfare Unit (SEALS) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Their
daughter, Amy, is a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class currently assigned as an
Electronic Warfare Specialist on the Guided Missile Cruiser USS Cowpens based in
Japan. |
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After retirement from active duty, Woolston attended college at Coastal
Carolina Community College in Jacksonville, NC. He transferred to the University
of North Carolina in Wilmington where he was a cum laude student majoring in
music and vocal performance. He was a member of the Saratoga-Potsdam Chorus of
the Crane School of Music, Potsdam, NY. The chorus performed major choral works
with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Saratoga, NY under the direction of
conductors including Robert Shaw, Eric Leinsdorf and Dennis Russell-Davies. He
has performed with many Eastern North Carolina choruses, including Pro Musica of
New Bern, the Carteret Chorale, the UNC-W Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, and
the Choir of St. James Episcopal Church in Wilmington. He is a long-time member
of the Schola Cantorum, the official choir of the Episcopal Diocese of East
Carolina. In 2004 he founded the vocal ensemble Sine Nomine Singers, a chamber
choir of 16 professional and select amateur singers. He both conducts and sings
in the group. He has been the featured tenor soloist in many works, including
the Evangelist in J. S. Bach's St. John Passion, Handel’s Messiah and W. A.
Mozart's Requiem, to name just a few.
Finley has toured extensively with
American choruses in Europe and has sung in chorus in Carnegie Hall. He has
performed in recital throughout Eastern North Carolina. He has completed three
extended musical residencies in England’s Gloucester Cathedral with Schola
Cantorum. Woolston became the Music Director and Conductor of the Crystal Coast
Choral Society in 1990. The Choral Society is a community chorus of over 70
singers acknowledged to be one of the best in Eastern North Carolina. He has
conducted numerous performances of Handel's Messiah, as well as
Vivaldi's Gloria, and J. S. Bach’s Magnificat, to name just a
few of the major choral works presented by the Choral Society. He was extended a
special invitation by the conductor to prepare members of the Choral Society to
perform the Gloria of Antonio Vivaldi with the New England Conservatory
Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in 2003. He was asked to prepare the Choral Society
for a return engagement in Carnegie Hall to perform the Requiem of Gabriel
Faure in June 2005. Woolston is the Music Director of Richlands United
Methodist Church, Richlands, NC. As a church musician he has been instrumental
in expanding interfaith and interracial church services in his community. He was
also recently chosen to produce, host and perform at the 2006 Lay Rally of the
United Methodist New Bern (NC) District.
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East
800 College Court, New Bern, NC
28562
Tel: (800) 222-9832 • Fax: (252) 638-3538
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