Etta B Freeman, 107, transitioned on Saturday, December 14, 2024. Funeral arrangements are incomplete but will be announced once complete.
Etta B. Freeman was born July 27, 1917 and reared by her grandparents. She graduated from Decatur Negro High in 1937 when Mr. C.J. Hurston was principal. He was a big influence on her life, leading her to pursue a degree of higher learning. With the help of her brother Sam Bankston, she was able to attend college after he falsified his age in order to enlist in the CC Camp. He sent her twenty-five dollars per month to ensure she had the funds necessary to attend.
Etta attended Alabama State College and completed two years, which at that time was junior in college. This qualified her for a teaching position in 1939. Her teaching experience was in Moulton, AL where she taught for two years. Etta married in 1941, then in 1943 she resigned from her teaching position in Moulton, and moved back to Decatur. Her only son was born in May of 1943. Six months later she began teaching first grade at Cherry Street Elementary School. In her later years she enrolled at Alabama A&M University to complete her last two years of college and obtained a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She went on to teach a total of thirty-seven years, substituted for twenty additional years, as well as working as a greeter at Wal Mart for four years.
