Carmen Alvina Reinli Fink, 85, passed away Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014, surrounded by her loving family. Funeral: 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, in Greenwood Chapel, University Drive at White Settlement Road, Fort Worth. Interment: Greenwood Memorial Park. Carmen was born Nov. 5, 1929, in Fort Worth to James Edward and Alma Bargsley Reinli. She graduated from Robert Lee Paschal High School in 1946 and was a proud 1950 alumna of Texas Christian University. Before she married Navy Lt. William Walter Fink Jr., she taught fourth grade at Morningside Elementary School in Fort Worth. Bill and Carmen were married Sept. 26, 1952, in Fort Worth. Carmen supported her husband and her country by serving in the Naval Officers Wives Club. In 1970, after her husband retired from the United States Navy, they settled in Arlington. In 2005, they moved to Oklahoma City, Okla., near their son's family. Carmen's final years were spent in Mansfield and Oklahoma City. Carmen and Bill loved to travel, spending many summers in Europe at the family residence, Villa Carmen, in Menorca, Spain, and Cancun, Mexico. Carmen was a daughter of the Republic of Texas and the great-great-granddaughter of John William Smith, the last messenger from the Alamo and the first mayor of San Antonio. Carmen was preceded in death by her parents; husband; infant daughter, Marlene; and her brother, James Edward Reinli III. Survivors: Son, William Fink III and wife, Sandra, of Oklahoma City; daughter, Greta West and husband, Kenny, of Arlington; grandchildren, Spencer and Ross West, Derika and Travis Fink; brother-in-law, Robert Fink and wife, Jane, of Mays Landing, N.J.; nieces, Jeri Lin Getz and Joni Reinli; and nephew, James Reinli.
Published in Star-Telegram on Jan. 2, 2015