Matthew Joseph Finn, 71, passed away peacefully at home in Newport RI on October 25, 2025.
He was born and raised in Newport’s Fifth Ward, the oldest of six children of the late Helen Murphy Finn and Matthew Henry Finn. Matt attended St. Augustin’s School, and he graduated from Rogers High School in 1972. He was a graduate of New England Tractor Trailer Training School which prepared him for a career in the trucking industry. He was also a heavy equipment operator.
Matt’s work ethic was legendary. At 12 years old he delivered milk, predawn, for Round House Dairy and still managed to get to school on time. Some of his other jobs included baling hay and tending horses at Hammersmith Farm, cutting the greens at Newport Country Club, pitching tents for Newport Tent Company, hauling produce from Boston for Crest Farm, and operating heavy equipment for C&B Construction, Peckham Brother’s, and Behan & Booth. He went on to a career at Waste Management and retired after 36 years of employment. On pickup days neighborhood children would wait for Matty’s truck and gesture for him to blow his horn; and he always indulged them.
Matty was a creature of habit. He sat in the same pew at St. Augustin’s weekly mass, completed his daily crossword puzzles in ink, and had dinner promptly at 5. He enjoyed daily breakfast at the Handy Lunch (where he routinely treated unsuspecting diners to breakfast or lunch). Matt was endlessly loyal and generous to his family and friends. He shoveled driveways, loaned money for down payments and medical expenses, gave driving lessons, gifted ride-on lawn mowers, did yard work, and moved furniture to name a few.
He was a lifetime member of the Newport Ancient Order of Hibernians, where he was the 2013 Hibernian of the Year. He was also a regular recipient of the Employee of the Month Award at Waste Management.
Matt is survived by his siblings Paul, Robert, and Helen, all of Newport, godchild Alison Finn Atkin, her husband Scott and their children Graham and Maisie of Durham,
CT. He will also be dearly missed by his many cousins. His family is grateful for his lifelong friends who provided companionship, comforting meals, and good “craic” during his illness.
He is preceded in death by his parents, and his brothers Cornelius “Con” and Timothy Finn.
Visiting hours will be held Wednesday, October 29 from 4-7 pm at O’Neill-Hayes Funeral Home, 465 Spring St, Newport. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Thursday, October 30 at St. Augustin’s Church, corner of Carroll & Harrison Ave, Newport at 10 am. Burial will be private.
Memorial donations may be made to Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice, 438 East Main Rd, 100, Middletown, RI 02842 or HopeHealth Hospice and Palliative Care, 1085 North Main Street, Providence, RI 02904.
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