Frances “Frankie” Finch Hobart, age 94, of Smithfield, North Carolina, passed away in peace at home in the presence of her family on Sunday, July 26, 2026.

She was a longtime community leader and volunteer in Smithfield and Johnston County, an artist and art teacher, a champion of the arts, community service and education, and a retired administrator and teacher for the Johnston County Public Schools.

A native of Smithfield, she was born in November 1931 to William Anderson Finch and Ruth Ennis Finch Hayes.

She attended Smithfield High School, where she was a student leader, head cheerleader, and editor of the Smithfield High School yearbook. Following graduation in 1950, she attended Greensboro College. Active in student government, she represented the college in the 1953 session of the North Carolina Student Legislature, where she was elected NCSL state president. She majored in art and history, graduating magna cum laude in 1954 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Following college, she lived in Raleigh where she worked as district director for the Wake-Johnston-Wilson Girl Scout Council. A former girl scout, she embraced the opportunity to organize troops in the region and support the young girls who were a part of them, particularly those in disadvantaged communities new to scouting.

While living in Raleigh, a mutual friend introduced her to the young man who would soon become her husband, John Donald Hobart. The two were kindred spirits, quickly fell in love, and were married in Smithfield in 1957. The young couple took up residence in Morristown, Tennessee, where Frankie immersed herself in the community life of her new city, serving as president of the Jaycettes, a member of the town’s public library board, a volunteer in the local Democratic Party, and an active member of the local Episcopal Church.

Robust community engagement became a pattern for her as the family moved through Durham, Chapel Hill, Salisbury, and Reidsville during the 1960’s, with each new city exposing her to new ideas and opportunities for service. In Salisbury, she served as president of the Junior Woman’s Club and a leader in the Rowan County Democratic Women. In Reidsville, she volunteered with one of the state’s earliest local arts councils. By the time the family returned to Smithfield in 1969, she had accumulated a wealth of experience and a passion for community and public service that she immediately put into practice.

In Smithfield, among family and many old friends, she renewed her work with Girl Scouts of USA, serving as a volunteer troop leader and leadership trainer in Johnston County, even lending her skills to the Boy Scouts of America as a Cub Scout den mother. She began teaching private art classes to local children, both in the summers and throughout the year.

Her exposure to the Rockingham County Arts Council led her and her husband in the early 1970’s to found the Johnston County Arts Council, which she then supported zealously for the rest of her life. She served on its board, as its president, and as a chair and organizer of many of its projects and initiatives. For 11 years, she served on the statewide board of the North Carolina Arts Council, on its executive committee, and as chair of various other committees. In 1992, she served on the National Endowment of the Arts’ Museum Programs Overview Panel in Washington DC. She particularly championed the arts in public schools, organizing numerous exhibits of works by local students in both the county and its congressional district. She served as a board member and secretary of the statewide Arts Advocates organization in Raleigh.

While serving as treasurer of the Rowan County Democratic Women in the 1960’s, she met a young lawyer from Wilson named Jim Hunt. That friendship became the foundation for an active volunteer career in state and local politics. Over the years, she served as president of the Johnston County Democratic Women and as a county key and active organizer for Jim Hunt’s campaigns for Lieutenant Governor, Governor, and U.S. Senate. She helped organize the congressional campaigns of Congressmen Charlie Whitley and Martin Lancaster in Johnston County and was an active supporter of numerous local and statewide candidates. In 2003, she was honored with the county’s Lacey Ruth Coates Award for Democratic Woman of the Year.

After her children were grown, she returned to the workplace as community schools coordinator for the Johnston County Public Schools, for which she received the Governor’s Award for Administration and Coordination of Volunteers in 1984, State Award for Best School System Annual Report in 1988, and in 1991, the statewide award for Best School Volunteer program. She served the county schools as an arts consultant and teacher as well.

She chaired the Smithfield Board of Elections from 1975 to 1979. She served as a president and member of the Johnston County Mental Health Association and as a member and chair of the Johnston Memorial Hospital Home Health and Hospice Board. She was a longtime member of the Smithfield Trial and Error Garden Club, a founding member of the Christmas Belles, and an avid bird watcher. For 24 years, she and her husband delivered Meals on Wheels to citizens in Johnston County.

A member of Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, she served as a president of the Episcopal Church Women and as a lay reader, Sunday School teacher, and summer church leader. In her later years, she and her husband were regular fixtures at the Saint Paul’s 8:00 am Sunday service.

At all times a gracious Southern lady, Frankie Hobart was a determined, independent thinker who was deeply committed to her community. She was a steadfast believer in the potential of all children and a vocal defender of the rights and opportunities of all people, regardless of race, gender, or economic circumstances. Her legacy lives on in the lives of the children and young people whose minds were sharpened and enriched through exposure to art and for whom her passionate advocacy for the rights of others created opportunity.

For a lifetime of public service, she was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2011.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband John and by her parents, her brother Dr. William Anderson Finch, Jr., her sister Ann Finch Waddell, her stepfather Ernest Wilford “Kelly” Hayes, and her beloved cat Sirikit. She is survived by her sons John Donald “Don” Hobart Jr. (wife Kay Linn Miller Hobart) of Raleigh and Dr. Frank Adams Hobart (wife Dr. Sarah Elizabeth “Betsy” von Biberstein) of Wilmington, her grandchildren Frank Adams Hobart III and William Finch Hobart, and her niece Frances “Fran” Waddell Best of Greenville, NC.

Her funeral will be held at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Smithfield at 11:00 am on Saturday, August 1, 2026, followed by a brief graveside ceremony and reception at the church’s Lawrence Hall. Parrish Funeral Home is assisting with the arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Frankie Hobart may be made to the Johnston County Arts Council, P.O. Box 2019, Smithfield, NC 27577 (https://www.jcartscouncil.org/sponsorsdonors.html); to the N.C. Community Foundation Endowment for the Frances F. Hobart Award for Voluntary Community Service, 3737 Glenwood Ave., Suite 460, Raleigh, NC 27612; and to Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, 218 South Second Street, Smithfield, NC 27577 (https://www.stpaulssmithfieldnc.org/donate?rq=donation).