Historical February–March 2003 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
I learned of Greg Freeman’s death around noon on Dec. 31.
After the first shock, I began to think of him in terms of our neighborhood and our city.
He was a great champion of both. Greg actually spent most of his adult life in Skinker DeBaliviere.
He loved the almost century old dwellings and he also loved the diversity of the area. About 8 years ago, he became a board member of the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council.
He gave support to programs to strengthen the neighborhood and spoke at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration.
He then joined the committee responsible for setting up the commemorations, working closely with the late Jack Wright. Several of us used to dine together before council meetings, gossiping about people and events in Skinker DeBaliviere and beyond.
We often talked about Washington Heights, the seemingly forgotten half of the neighborhood where we both lived.
If he could have, Greg would have never left Skinker DeBaliviere.
However, he became afflicted with limb girdle muscular dystrophy, which meant that a domicile with an elevator would be a must.
When he moved early last summer, he did not go far, choosing a condominium due east in the central west end. Greg also had great enthusiasm for the city.
He championed its renewal every chance he could.
He joined with KMOX’s Charlie Brennan to argue for vendors and entertainers downtown.
He cared about historical buildings.
He cared about the type of governance that could help the city redevelop. And he also championed organizations that helped the less able, the less fortunate in the greater St. Louis area.
His writing, in these veins, brought a focus to many good causes. But, perhaps most of all, in his Post-Dispatch columns and in his good works in the neighborhood and beyond, he had a humanism to which everyone could relate. Whether he wrote about his son Will or their cat, Cornelius, acting out, he opened the doors of understanding across the barrier of color for many.
His memorial service at Washington University’s Graham Chapel was his kind of gathering.
It was diverse in race, age, and every other way.
The speakers that day helped us to remember Greg with laughter–a very warm person, albeit with foibles, but clearly a man who will be missed by many. And, he and his wife, Elizabeth, were great partners at trivial pursuit, helping the Times, in one of our many fundraising adventures.
This is a hard loss for us all but at least we had him for as long as we did.
Original photograph caption
Elizabeth and Greg Freeman; source caption also mentions son Will, who is not visibly pictured. Photographer not credited.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February–March 2003.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2003_02.pdf, printed page(s) 1; PDF page(s) 1.
