Danny Lee Finestead — his given name was Danny, but everyone knew him as Dan, Moby or Dan the Man — was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on Aug. 4, 1953, and passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, on March 27, 2024, in Queen Creek, Arizona.
He was 70 years young.
Dan grew up and graduated from the Woodward-Granger schools in 1971.
He met the love of his life, Diana Bice, in 1970. They wed in 1973 and celebrated their 50th anniversary this past May.
Dan and Di lived in Perry, Oklahoma, and then settled in Arizona, where they still reside.
Dan was a builder with some engineering and drafting thrown into the mix. He was extremely talented and used these skills to make a living, but his great joy was helping family and friends with their projects.
His career of 35 years spanned the residential, commercial and medical fields, and during that time he founded three companies and worked in four states.
After he retired, Dan’s talents were put to work designing and building their cabin in the mountains, topped off recently by their retirement home in Queen Creek.
Dan was talented in several other areas. He had a brief acting career in his 20s as Baby New Year, played the trumpet and air guitar, invented the turkey snatcher, climbed any building he could find, knew the lyrics and artist of every song he loved and often created his own lyrics and could retell millions of jokes.
He was quick witted and extremely funny with his dry sense of humor. Dan’s real talent was nicknaming people and objects that are still in use today.
Dan loved his Harley and RV and enjoyed spending time riding and camping.
He loved sitting around with friends and family, enjoying a beverage and shooting the breeze.
Dan loved to laugh and lived his life enjoying the ride.
Dan was a great husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle. Leaving behind to mourn him are his wife, Di; sons, Heath (Monique) and Aaron (Amy); grandkids, Katelyn, Jaxson and Sutton; his father, Dale; brothers, Mark (Cheri) and Mike (Pam); sister, Rhonda; sister-in-law, Denise (Butch) Niebuhr; nieces; nephews; and several lifelong friends — you know who you are!
He was preceded in death by his mother, Marty; mother-in-law, Colleen Bice; father-in-law, Larry Bice; and brother-in-law, Jeff Bice.
Dan’s favorite saying to his kids and grandkids was a song from the Rolling Stones – “You can’t always get what you want.” We all wanted him to beat cancer, but we didn’t get what we wanted.
A Celebration of Dan’s life will be held at a later date. Memorials can be sent to Di Finestead, 25718 S. 203rd St., Queen Creek, AZ 85142.
