Brother Finan was born on February 14, 1830, the son of Michel and Barbara Bogner Goos. Soon after his birth the family emigrated from his birthplace in Achen Baden, Germany and Valentine entered the Novitiate at Baltimore in September 5, 1880. He received the habit of the Brothers on November 1, 1850, and one month later began his teaching career in Baltimore. In 1866 he came west to St. Louis where he began teaching at St. Vincent's School in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1870 he served as Inspector of Schools in the St. Louis area and from 1873 to 1879 he served as Procurer. In 1879 he was appointed Director of St. Patrick's in St. Louis and served in this capacity until September of 1882, when he was appointed Sub-Director of St. Vincent's School also in St. Louis. The following year in September of 1883 he was assigned to the Brothers' School in St. Joseph, Missouri. He served there as Sub-Director, "econome" and bursar until his death on February 9, 1887, of pneumonia. He was fifty-seven years old and in his thirty-seventh year as a De La Salle Christian Brother. He is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri.
