Gene Cleveland Finley
1929-
A song which asks God to forgive us our debts is "Father,
Forgive Us." The text was written and the tune (Smart) was
composed both by Gene Cleveland Finley, who was born on
Jan. 15, 1929, near Gilt Edge, TN, to Hiram Cleveland and
Edna Finley. His father was a singing teacher and
song-writer, and his mother was an alto singer. Gene has
been interested in music all of his life, attending singing
schools taught by his father, C. B. Holloway, G. E.
Baggett, J. E. Roane, R. H. McNew, and others. In 1951, he
married Wilma Smart of Clinton, AR, and they had two
children, a son and a daughter. In addition to his work of
teaching music in public schools at Star City, AR, he has
taught some singing schools and produced several songs. His
closing song "Lord, Dismiss Us in Thy Care," harmonized by
George Edward Baggett, has been well received.
"Lord, Dismiss Us in Thy Care" and Finley's "Oh, What
Love!", also harmonized by Baggett, were both published in
the 1971 Songs of the Church edited by Alton H. Howard. In
1980, Finley edited a book, Our Garden in Song, which gives
biographies of song writers associated with Churches of
Christ. Among hymnbooks published by members of the Lord's
church during the twentieth century for use in churches of
Christ, "Father, Forgive Us," which was copyrighted in
1973, was first published in the 1978 Hymns of Worship
edited by Reuel Lemmons for the Firm Foundation Co. Today
it may also be found in the 1992 Praise for the Lord edited
by John P. Wiegand; and the 1999 Into Our Hands edited by
Leland R. Fleming; in addition to the 2007 Sacred Songs of
the Church edited by William D. Jeffcoat.