Obituary of Michael K. Freeman

Michael Kenneth Freeman was born January 19, 1958, and died on Tuesday, February 28, 2023, in Houston, Texas. 

Michael was preceded in death by parents Robert and Verna Freeman, sister Mary Catherine Freeman, former wife and mother of his children, Patsy Freeman, and niece Taunia Freeman.

He is survived by his daughter Sophia Freeman, mother of grandchildren Adrienne, Lawrence, and Luis; his son Robert Charles Freeman; his long-time best friend Debbie Hilton; his siblings Joan Barry, Chris Freeman, Fran Grothaus (Bill), Paul Freeman (Joan), Susan Massey (Larry), Mimi Holt (Mark), Judy Gorham (Jim), and Claire Freeman; and by many other family and friends.

Michael was gentle, kind, and honest.  He loved the people and experiences in his life.  He found joy and peace in nature, sunsets, music, smooth whiskey, and hanging with friends.  Whether they were traveling to favorite beaches or feeding squirrels in the back yard, he loved his friend Debbie.

Michael had great curiosity.  He took apart toys, and plants, and frogs, and squirrels, and motors, and pianos – to name a few – just to see how they worked.  No malice, just a deep appreciation and desire to know. 

As a youth, he carefully vivisected a frog with the skill of a surgeon so he could study its beating heart, only later realizing that he couldn’t put it back together.  He hunted squirrels and like a true nature-lover, wasted not – cooking and eating the meat and drying the skins in the oven.  He taught himself to play piano by ear.  The same upright piano he fell off as a child, and later took apart, painted, and restored.

He wasn’t a traditional student.  He learned by experience, by trial and error.  It was hard and discouraging at times to be measured by a standard that values formal education more than his gift of wonder.  He overcame significant learning disabilities before learning disabilities were a “thing” to graduate from high school and went on to become a successful businessman and hard-working employee in the pawn business and later in retail sales and management.  He won many honors for sales and management.

Michael raised two children that mean the world to him.  While he wasn’t always the most attentive to his relationships with his children, he valued them and worked to repair and improve them. 

Michael didn’t always feel that he fit in.  At times he distanced himself from family and friends.  But when it mattered most; he was there.  He lived with his mother when she had Alzheimer’s as one of her caregivers.  Not a fussy caregiver but patient and gentle; bringing peace and comfort to her by his quiet presence in the late evenings when he returned from work.

For many years he distanced himself from God too.  But God was not distant from Michael who had long rejoined the Church and treasured his faith not as a burden of obligation but as a source of support and solace.  He desired and received the sacraments of healing before his death.

Where Michael is at this moment and what he is experiencing, we cannot know.  But knowing Michael, he is taking it all in with his sense of awe and wonder.

And we know that the God who created the unique person of Michael Kenneth Freeman in His own image and likeness ex nihilo will not abandon him.  Love does not annihilate the beloved.  Michael is beloved.  His parents recognized his nature and named him “one who is like God”. 

Pray for Michael and entrust him to the mercy and goodness of God.  And ask him to pray for all of us.

Donations may be made in his honor to St Vincent de Paul Church with a memo note “Mike Freeman”.  All donations will be directed to the St Jude Fund for the Poor.

A visitation will begin at 9:15 a.m. with a Rosary at 10:00 a.m., followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 9, 2023 at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 6800 Buffalo Speedway in Houston, Texas. 

The Rite of Committal will follow at 3:00 p.m. at Forest Park Lawndale cemetery in Houston, Texas.
To leave a condolence or to read the obituary, please visit josephjearthman.com.