Edna Jeffrey

Edna Jeffrey - childhood name Edna Finnila - is an American author of the novel Till I'm with You Again, which has recently been transformed to a movie screenplay by the five-time Emmy-nominated Thom Racina. Now a movie production is under works about the story, which is based on Edna Jeffrey's true life experience.

Edna Jeffrey has conducted a successful long career as a California entrepreneur and realtor, and as the long time co-owner of the renown Finnila's Finnish Baths and - up to date - as the majority owner of Noe & Market Center in San Francisco's Castro District in California, USA.

Roots and early life
In 1902, Edna Jeffrey's father Matti Finnila (Finnish spelling: Finnilä) immigrated from Kalajoki, Finland to Los Angeles, California, sponsored by his brother, who owned a baking oven manufacturing business in Los Angeles. Matti's brother wrote a book called Moneyless Society. In Los Angeles, Matti Finnila learned the skill of bricklaying. In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake inspired Matti Finnila - like many other Finns - to move to San Francisco, to help rebuild the city.

In San Francisco, Matti Finnila met Alexandra (Sandra) Lantta from Ullava, Finland. The couple married and settled to live in the San Francisco's heavily Finnish-populated Castro District. Matti Finnila established a bricklaying business and in early 1910s opened a Finnish-style sauna club, Finnila's Finnish Baths, for the general public. Matti and Alexandra Finnila had a son Alfred Finnila in 1913 and the daughter Edna Finnila (later Edna Jeffrey) in 1916.

In 1919, the Finnila family opened a new bathhouse at 4032 17th Street, a half block west from the busy Castro Street. The Finnila family owned the entire 3-4 floor building, where separate ladies' and men's sauna and massage facilities were embedded in the basement. In 1932, the Finnila family finished constructing a new Finnila's Finnish Baths bathhouse building at the corner of Noe and Market Streets in San Francisco.

Eager to help, Edna began assisting at the front counter of Finnila's when she was only five years old, greatly contributing to the success of the bathhouse throughout her adolescence, and later on as the co-owner for decades of both the bathhouse and the Noe & Market Center complex, which was built in place of the old bathhouse. Edna Jeffrey remains a majority owner of the new building today.

Adulthood
Over four semesters in 1938-1939, Edna Finnila was a full-time student at Pasadena Community Playhouse School of Theater Arts. After graduating from Pasadena Playhouse in June, 1939, Edna Finnila pursued a career in modeling and acting in New York City.

Edna fell in love with and married in 1942 to an American fighter pilot Arthur F. Jeffrey and acquired his family name. In the war-time battles in Europe in 1942-1945, Arthur F. Jeffrey shot down confirmed 14 enemy planes, succeeding also as the first American pilot to shoot down a German jet fighter plane during battle. He was promoted a colonel at young age in 1950. Arthur and Edna Jeffrey gave birth to two sons, who followed in their father's footsteps and became pilots. Arthur and Edna Jeffrey later divorced and Edna Jeffrey re-settled in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1974, the younger son of the couple died in an air crash.

From early 1950s, Edna Jeffrey was the co-owner of the popular Finnila's Finnish Baths bathhouse on San Francisco's Market Street, until it closed down in December, 1985. She remains a majority owner of Noe & Market Center, which was built in place of the old bathhouse 1986. Edna Jeffrey led a successful career as an entrepreneur and an independent real estate broker from the early 1960s to the mid-2000s, when she retired.

Novel by Edna Jeffrey
In 2005, Edna Jeffrey wrote a novel by the name of Till I'm with You Again. It tells a true life experience. Five-time Emmy-nominated screenwriter Thom Racina has written a motion picture screenplay of the novel. Now a motion picture production is being prepared, to bring Edna Jeffrey's story to the white screen.

Awards and recognition for Finnila's
Still shortly before closing its popular Market Street location in San Francisco in the 1980s, Finnila's Finnish Baths - owned by Edna Jeffrey and his brother Alfred Finnila - was awarded the title "The Best" two times in row by the popular bi-weekly and free San Francisco Bay Area entertainment magazine San Francisco Bay Guardian. According to the paper, Finnila's was "The Best Sauna and Massage Parlor" in the San Francisco Bay Area.


 * 1983 - "The Best Sauna and Massage Parlor".
 * 1984 - "The Best Sauna and Massage Parlor".