Florence Freeman

Florence Thompson Freeman died peacefully in Northbridge, MA on October 31, 2015 after a long life well lived. Prior to 2010, she was a long time resident of the South Hills of Pittsburgh, PA and the Devonshire of Mt. Lebanon, PA.

She was 98 at the time of her death, celebrating her last birthday on October 12, 2015.

For the 5 years prior to her death she lived with her dementia in the home of her son John (Jack) Freeman and her daughter-in-law Linda Lacki of Northbridge, MA.  Phoebe Freeman, her Chinese Crested Powder Puff dog, was nearby for all those years.

Florence was preceded in death by her loving and devoted husband of more than 60 years, J. Lynn Freeman, (whom she married on 7/30/1942), her adored mother Florence Mabel Watt, her never to be forgotten stepfather James Watt and her beloved father, whom she never met, George Alexander Thompson, all of PA besides numerous pets including her ‘Red Dempsey’ and ‘Meme’.

In addition to her son Jack and daughter-in-law Linda, Florence is survived by her son, Richard Thompson Freeman, daughter-in-law Valerie E. Freeman (Rosak), her grandchildren Daltha (Heath) Dolanch, Alexander Freeman, Laura Freeman and her great grandchildren Samara and Wilhemina Dolanch.

She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, children of her wonderful deceased brother-in-law Oliver Freeman and sister-in-law Mary (Freeman) Pusateri. Florence delighted in knowing their children.  Florence so enjoyed having such a large extended family.

She may also be survived by a number of friends at the Devonshire of Mt. Lebanon, especially Ceil Wilson, Thelma Seibert, and others who may still remember her from the 8 years she lived there before moving to MA in 2010.

Florence is to be interred in a columbarium side by side with husband and her dog Meme at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair, PA after a direct cremation.  This church was of paramount importance to both Florence and Lynn Freeman throughout their entire lives.  In fact, their 50 ^th wedding anniversary was held in the church’s reception hall, just recently completed at that time.   A number of Florence’s family activities centered on the events of their church.

One of Florence’s dearest wishes was to a have a family and home of her own.  After WWII, with her husband now out of harm’s way, this couple fulfilled the promise that included two sons and a new home that they built in Brookside Farms.  Florence told her sons that they could accomplish whatever they wished and she modeled that for them.  She never failed to introduce her ‘two little boys’ to anyone she met with obvious pride.

Florence may be most proud of working for J&L Steel in the 1940’s where she helped to prepare paychecks using original IBM computing equipment.  This was a generation of equipment that actually required hard wiring and punch cards to compute pay checks.  Her eldest son, Jack, would much later become an electrical engineer who primarily worked with computers throughout his entire career.  Throughout her life she worked outside of her home and her last employment before she retired saw her as a receptionist in a Dental office where she greatly enjoyed all the patients she interacted with on a daily basis.

She and her husband Lynn were long standing active members of the Upper St. Clair Senior Citizens group and Florence was the trip director for many senior excursions across the country.

Florence and her husband were original charter member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Upper St. Clair, under the direction of Dr. John Galbreath who she met when he canvassed her neighborhood for new church members in the 1940s.

During her stay at the Devonshire, Florence and her fellow residents made Angel’s Place, Pittsburgh PA, the focus of their fund raising activities over many years and raised more than $10,000.00 for this cause.

This was a woman who couldn’t rest if there was some creative activity to pursue; even in the final month of her life she was creating crafts in St. Camillus’ activity room.   Florence was a master at any kind of DIY project.  You name it she had done it.  Her hand sewing skills developed as she was taught by her mother.  She could make anything with or without a pattern.  She created her clothes, home goods, cards, furniture, drapes, and dog clothes.  She would also hem and alter clothing for fellow residents at the Devonshire until she was no longer able to do this.  She spent hours in MA creating beautiful jeweled Christmas ornaments with her care providers, among many other projects.  Florence always wanted to be engaged in living.

There wasn’t a child or a dog that she didn’t want on her lap. Some of her final excursions before her death involved going to lunch and having a chance to say hello to a little one that she might encounter and her care providers knew all the best places to see dogs and children alike.  Actually, if there was an animal anywhere near her, they just gravitated to her.

A snapshot of Florence would never be complete without an ode to her town, her place of birth – the three rivers - Pittsburgh, Pa. Whether it was Dormont, Mt. Lebanon, Pittsburgh proper, Upper St. Clair, South Hills she never, never tired of looking at pictures and talking about her beloved homeland with her dear son Richard, an architect in Pittsburgh, PA.  How fitting!  Until her very final days she never forgot the towns and scenic spots of her youth.  She was a true daughter of Pittsburgh.

As Richard, her son has said – “We know death is normal and expected, but for those who knew her and cared about her it's still not going to be the same world without our Mom in it.”

Dear Florence – from all your family and friends:

“We will all miss you until we see you again!”

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F.T.F.’s obituary would not be complete without recognizing a very wonderful group of care providers and practitioners across Florence’s adopted community.  Her family would never have been able to support her last five years of living with dementia in their home without them.  It is impossible for a family to do this work without help.  Florence’s high quality of life was based on the personal efforts of so many compassionate people, too many to name.  Her family would like to share their extreme gratitude with an outstanding group of people who circled Florence with their personal care and concern to allow her to live her life with dignity and respect.

In her Northbridge, MA home,  ‘Miss’ Florence needed and depended on her loving, dedicated and fun loving care providers (who she sometimes claimed as her daughters):  Annunzia Ricciardi Grilla, Worcester MA; Lori Trottier, Uxbridge, MA; Jennifer Horrigan, Grafton, MA, Peg Sacco, Milford, MA, and Carol Dyer, Douglas, MA. They all succeeded in loving her to pieces.  The delight they took in being with her, through thick and thin, was inspiring to behold.

Not nearly enough can be said of Dr. Catherine Dubeau and her staff, who worked with us so diligently during every phase of her disease throughout the last five years.  Her commitment to quality of life for Florence was astounding.  At times she just left us with no words as we watched her brilliance, insight and care for all of us as she cared for Florence.  She helped us to make critical decisions about hospice and end of life care. Dr. Dubeau is among the best of the best.   The family selected Notre Dame Hospice on Dr. Dubeau’s wise personal recommendation, which provided great support needed for all of us to get Florence to her final resting place.

Notre Dame Hospice is an amazing organization that provided nursing care via Lisa and Jackie; CNA care through Jeffery and Donna, music therapy from Jillian, massage therapy and spiritual care.  June, their social worker helped us to better understand anticipatory grief and offered support for all our care providers.  These good people made it possible for Florence to finish her life with great care, concern, comfort and dignity – they guided the family in making the right decisions for Florence.  Their presence at the facility allowed the family to focus on being with Mom for the last days of her life.

At the point that Florence needed constant 24 hour care, her family turned to St. Camillus Health Center.  Florence spent her last months there surrounded by family and a small team of dedicated care providers.  In the last weeks of her life, the family relied on Jennifer’s unfailing support to start each morning with Miss Florence ensuring one more smile.  She ‘walked’ with the family as they journeyed with Florence to complete her final days.  The mainstays of care during that time were the compassionate and caring St. Camillus employees.  Very, very special thanks goes to her nurses, Rachel, Deb, Catherine and her CNAs Patti, Christa, Stephania, though there were many others on all 3 shifts that took time to care for Miss Florence.   The people from Activities and Food Service did everything they could to make her stay there as comfortable as possible.  Her last supper was her birthday dinner there, with lobster which she and her son Jack shared and thoroughly enjoyed together.

Dr. Tubo’s entire office worked hard to literally make Florence feel like royalty any time she visited the dentist.  They accommodated her care providers and family that accompanied her, they made sure she was warm, gave her water, breaks and took care of her beautifully as she received dental care.  Dr. Jason Tubo helped make wise decisions about Florence’s dental care, allowing her to eat everything she ever wanted until her last birthday, just a few short weeks before her death.  He worked with her family to develop a care plan in her best interest.  He and his staff handled some very tough sessions, getting her through the procedures even during the latter stages of dementia.  His professionalism and deep caring for this patient was evident in every visit to his office.  His staff always mirrored those same sentiments.

The wonderful doctors at Sutton Animal Hospital, especially Dr. Karen Ober, kept her little dog Phoebe, who is an elder in her own right, in the best health they could for Florence’s sake.  The support staff of vet techs, especially Marge, all did their best for Phoebe.  Everyone at this practice deeply understood the bond between Florence and Phoebe and the connection between a healthy Phoebe and Florence.

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Mt. Wachusett, MA

Freeman Family’s Contact Information:

John Freeman

108 MacArthur Road

Northbridge, MA 01534

508 234 8488

Jfreeman2001@charter.net