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Freeman was charter president of his local Lions International, [[Chamber of Commerce]], the Logansport Development Corporation, and Logansport Athletics Booster Club. He was active in the DeSoto Parish Chamber of Commerce.

Freeman was charter president of his local Lions International, [[Chamber of Commerce]], the Logansport Development Corporation, and Logansport Athletics Booster Club. He was active in the DeSoto Parish Chamber of Commerce.

 

==Political campaigns==​

==Political campaigns==​

Elected as a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in 1984, 1988, and 1992, Freeman switched parties and won thereafter as a [[Republican Party|Republican]] in 1996, 2000, and 2004. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Louisiana House of Representatives in District 7 in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, even though he had been undergoing treatment for the cancer that took his life a month later. He received 1,427 votes (11 percent), having finished last in a five-candidate field. The seat, which covers all of DeSoto and ten precincts of adjoining Caddo Parish, went to another Republican, [[Richard Burford]] of Stonewall]], the easy winner of the November 17 [[general election]]. Burford is a former three-term member of the DeSoto Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body.<ref>[http://www400.s.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms3&rqsdta=102007 Louisiana Secretary of State-Multi-Parish Elections Inquiry<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919060943/http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms3&rqsdta=102007 |date=September 19, 2008 }}</ref> Had Freeman been elected, he would not have lived to have taken the seat on January 14, 2008.​ Burford gave up the seat in 2016 in an unsuccessful bid in 2015 for the Louisiana State Senate.

Elected as a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in 1984, 1988, and 1992, Freeman switched parties and won thereafter as a [[Republican Party|Republican]] in 1996, 2000, and 2004. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Louisiana House of Representatives in District 7 in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, even though he had been undergoing treatment for the cancer that took his life a month later. He received 1,427 votes (11 percent), having finished last in a five-candidate field. The seat, which covers all of DeSoto and ten precincts of adjoining Caddo Parish, went to another Republican, [[Richard Burford]] of Stonewall]], the easy winner of the November 17 [[general election]]. Burford is a former three-term member of the DeSoto Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body.<ref>[http://www400.s.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms3&rqsdta=102007 Louisiana Secretary of State-Multi-Parish Elections Inquiry<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919060943/http://www400.sos.louisiana.gov:8090/cgibin/?rqstyp=elcms3&rqsdta=102007 |date=September 19, 2008 }}</ref> Had Freeman been elected, he would not have lived to have taken the seat on January 14, 2008.​ Burford gave up the seat in 2016 in an unsuccessful bid in 2015 for the Louisiana State Senate.

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==Freeman's legacy==

==Legacy==

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Former Mayor Harold Cornett of Mansfield in DeSoto Parish, recalls his former colleague as a "hard worker" who was well thought of in the community and throughout the state. "He was a great leader who never said 'no' to responsibility. He was just a good mayor, and Logansport, the state, and I will certainly miss him," said Cornett, who, as an honorary pallbearer, joined the mayors of Mansfield, Grand Cane, Stonewall, and Natchitoches as well as other elected officials and parish residents at Freeman's funeral.<ref name="The Shreveport Times"/> Some three hundred gathered at the First [[United Methodist]] Church in Logansport, where Freeman was a member and sang in the choir, to pay respects to a man noted for his personal "passion." The Reverend Kemper Smith said that Freeman was "passionate about what he believed. ... His determination served him well because he was a born leader." Daughter Pamela Kaye Freeman (born 1970) of Logansport addressed the mourners and read from a letter that Freeman's wife, the former Katherine Thomas, then seventeen, wrote to him in 1958:​

Former Mayor Harold Cornett of Mansfield in DeSoto Parish, recalls his former colleague as a "hard worker" who was well thought of in the community and throughout the state. "He was a great leader who never said 'no' to responsibility. He was just a good mayor, and Logansport, the state, and I will certainly miss him," said Cornett, who, as an honorary pallbearer, joined the mayors of Mansfield, Grand Cane, Stonewall, and Natchitoches as well as other elected officials and parish residents at Freeman's funeral.<ref name="The Shreveport Times"/> Some three hundred gathered at the First [[United Methodist]] Church in Logansport, where Freeman was a member and sang in the choir, to pay respects to a man noted for his personal "passion." The Reverend Kemper Smith said that Freeman was "passionate about what he believed. ... His determination served him well because he was a born leader." Daughter Pamela Kaye Freeman (born 1970) of Logansport addressed the mourners and read from a letter that Freeman's wife, the former Katherine Thomas, then seventeen, wrote to him in 1958:​

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"I admire you for standing by what you think is right." Replied Pam Freeman: "Doesn't that sound familiar?" The Freemans were married for forty-six years. He was survived by two other daughters, Susan and husband Steve Simmons of Frisco, Texas, and Kathy and husband Billy Alger of Logansport, five grandchildren, and three brothers.<ref name="The Shreveport Times"/>​F

"I admire you for standing by what you think is right." Replied Pam Freeman: "Doesn't that sound familiar?" The Freemans were married for forty-six years. He was survived by two other daughters, Susan and husband Steve Simmons of Frisco, Texas, and Kathy and husband Billy Alger of Logansport, five grandchildren, and three brothers.<ref name="The Shreveport Times"/>

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Freeman is interred in Logansport Cemetery located near the riverfront. His marker reads "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." The riverfront had been an unattractive briar thicket until Freeman directed its renovation. Now, it is a welcoming entrance off U.S. Highway 84 into Louisiana from Texas. It has a terraced landscape, veterans' memorial, walking paths, gazebo, picnic tables, and a pavilion, mostly financed from grants and private donations.<ref name="The Shreveport Times"/>​

Freeman is interred in Logansport Cemetery located near the riverfront. His marker reads "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord." The riverfront had been an unattractive briar thicket until Freeman directed its renovation. Now, it is a welcoming entrance off U.S. Highway 84 into Louisiana from Texas. It has a terraced landscape, veterans' memorial, walking paths, gazebo, picnic tables, and a pavilion, mostly financed from grants and private donations.<ref name="The Shreveport Times"/>​