Headline: MOURNERS
OF ALL STRIPES JOIN TO SHARE JOY AND LOSS
Reporter: By Kim Bell\Judith VandeWater And Mark Schlinkmann Of The Post-Dispatch
Contributed Information To This Report.
Publication: ST.
LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Sun., Jan. 5, 2003
Section: SPECIAL SECTION, Page: E2, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT
Joyous laughter
rose from the mourners Saturday inside Graham Chapel as they heard touching
tales of the late Post-Dispatch columnist Greg Freeman.
"His
heart was as big as a bathtub and a soul to match, " said Ron Henderson,
the former St. Louis police chief.
Nearly 1,100 people
came to Washington University's chapel to say goodbye to Freeman, who died Tuesday
at the age of 46.
Friends who stood at the podium regaled the crowd with stories
of Freeman's early years as a cub reporter for the Post-Dispatch, his "goody-two-shoes"
persona and his unapologetic love of the Three Stooges and Superman.
Above all, though, Freeman was remembered for an unyielding sense
of good.
"Greg's
the kind of guy that, if he had a secret life, it would've been virtuous,"
said fellow Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan.
One of Freeman's
college buddies, Joseph Rubin, said he became fast friends with Freeman when
the two worked together on the Washington University student newspaper. Rubin
said Freeman was the first true friend he had who was black.
"How
could a white kid from the suburbs have been luckier?" Rubin said. "Greg
was a walking, talking antidote for racial prejudice and injustice."
The service drew
a diverse crowd: politicians and community activists, journalists and newspaper
readers, white and black.
"That's
something Greg would have been so pleased with," said Freeman's wife, Elizabeth.
"He lived diversity in his life."
The mourners filled every seat, then stood along walls or sat on steps when space ran out. An overflow crowd watched the service from a big-screen television elsewhere on campus.
Henderson, the
former St. Louis police chief, is now U.S. marshal for the Eastern District
of Missouri.
He called Freeman "a gentle giant."
Henderson
had the crowd laughing when he told how he was preparing to roast Freeman when
Freeman was named Media Person of the Year in 2001 by the St. Louis Press Club.
"I
called Elizabeth and said, 'I need some dirt, give me something, '" Henderson
said. To that, Elizabeth could only offer: "He speaks Spanish, likes Mexican
food and Superman."
"What
you see is what you get with Greg, " Henderson said.
Memorial speakers
Saturday also included Freeman's sister, Cheryl McKinney of St. Louis, who donated
a kidney to Freeman in 2001; and the Rev. Earl Nance of the Greater Mount Carmel
Baptist Church. Nance said he especially liked Freeman's desire to find the
good in St. Louis.
"In
an era when it seems easier to cut bait and run, Greg remained steadfast in
pointing out the advantages and charm in urban living, " Nance said.
One of St. Alphonsus "Rock" Church's choirs performed, and the Rev. Rick Potts, pastor of St. Alphonsus, eulogized Freeman and led the gathering in prayer. Freeman had converted to Catholicism and was a member of St. Alphonsus.
Freeman collapsed in his Central West End home early Tuesday morning and was pronounced dead at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Results of an autopsy are pending. Since 1999, Freeman had suffered from prostate cancer, a form of muscular dystrophy and kidney failure.
Public figures in the crowd included St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay; former St. Louis Mayor Clarence Harmon; civil rights activist Norman Seay; St. Louis County Executive George "Buzz" Westfall; Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau; James Buford, chief executive of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis; former St. Louis Alderman Steven Roberts; former U.S. Sen. Thomas Eagleton, D-Mo.; former U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill.; and former Missouri Lt. Gov. Harriett Woods.
But Freeman drew
people from all walks of life. People like Gloria Gordon, 79, of St. Louis,
who never met Freeman but followed his newspaper columns and radio program on
radio station KWMU.
"I
appreciate people doing things to bring good values into the community, "
Gordon said. "I feel like I've lost a family member."
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