Betty Jeane Pierce Freeman departed this life on July 7, 2023 in Jasper, Alabama. She has departed from the life we all know – but she lives on in the presence of her savior, Jesus Christ. In this we rejoice – while we miss her greatly.
Jeane was born February 8, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama, but she was raised in Jasper. After graduating Walker County High, she attended Shorter College for a couple of years until Jimmy Freeman swept her off her feet and whisked her away to the North! Married at First Methodist Church in Jasper in 1949, her first child arrived 11 months later in West Virginia. A second followed a year or so later – then a third in Niagara Falls and two more in White Plains, NY. Jeane stayed exceedingly busy raising five children and supporting her husband – yet still found time to serve as part-time secretary at her church, working with the PTA and teaching Sunday School.
Jeane moved back to Alabama in 1977 to a property we called Eagle Ridge Farm out at Smith Lake. Jeane and the whole family loved the farm. But she didn’t move back to Walker County to retire. While finishing the raising of her two youngest children, she took on the task of organizing the Walker County Medical Center Auxiliary in late 1978. She volunteered as the first Director of Volunteer Services and then was hired to serve in that position as paid staff. Her supervisor wrote on her performance evaluation that she was doing a “fantastic job!” No surprise there. She was an amazing artist – she had a beautiful voice and sang in several church choirs – and starred in at least one musical production in White Plains! She was an amazing mother and wife. She was greatly loved, and she loved greatly.
Jeane had to leave her beloved farm in 2016 due to declining health and moved in with one of her children for several years. In 2020 she moved in to Ridgeview and the family greatly appreciates the care she received there for her final three years on earth.
Jeane was preceded in death by her parents, Edgar and Wyola Grimes Pierce; her older brother, Edgar Pierce, Jr.; her sister, Anne Pierce Bailey; her former husband, James S. Freeman, Jr.; and her oldest son, James S. Freeman, III “Skip”. She is survived by her younger brother, Thomas Pierce; her sons, Jeff, Ted, and Rob Freeman; her daughter Pat Freeman Thayer; ten grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren and one on the way; along with spouses who loved her as their own mom.
Family will be receiving friends on Friday, July 14, 2023, from 11 a.m. until 12 p.m., at Kilgore-Green Funeral Home. Service will follow at 12 p.m., in the Kilgore-Green Chapel, with burial at Oak Hill Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to First Methodist Church in Jasper.
