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|occupation=[[Insurance]] agent ​

|occupation=[[Insurance]] agent ​

|religion=[[United Methodist]]}}

|religion=[[United Methodist]]}}

 

'''Harold Dennis Freeman''' (April 23, 1940 &ndash; November 23, 2007), known as '''Dennis Freeman''', was from 1984 until his death the [[mayor]] of Logansport, a town adjacent to the Sabine River in DeSoto Parish in northwestern [[Louisiana]]. His contributions were particularly significant considering the otherwise limited role of a small-town mayor. For some sixteen years, he worked patiently with highway officials in Louisiana and [[Texas]] to construct a new border bridge over the Sabine.. Freeman also fought to keep the pending  Interstate 69 route in western Louisiana closer to Logansport. He also helped to establish the first fire and ambulance districts in DeSoto Parish.<ref name="Legacy.com Secure Server">[http://www.legacy.com/shreveporttimes/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=98534216 Legacy.com Secure Server<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>​

'''Harold Dennis Freeman''' (April 23, 1940 &ndash; November 23, 2007), known as '''Dennis Freeman''', was from 1984 until his death the [[mayor]] of Logansport, a town adjacent to the Sabine River in DeSoto Parish in northwestern [[Louisiana]]. His contributions were particularly significant considering the otherwise limited role of a small-town mayor. For some sixteen years, he worked patiently with highway officials in Louisiana and [[Texas]] to construct a new border bridge over the Sabine.. Freeman also fought to keep the pending  Interstate 69 route in western Louisiana closer to Logansport. He also helped to establish the first fire and ambulance districts in DeSoto Parish.<ref name="Legacy.com Secure Server">[http://www.legacy.com/shreveporttimes/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=98534216 Legacy.com Secure Server<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>​

Steve Stephens of Logansport said that his friend Freeman did a "magnificent job and will be sorely missed.  ... Dennis understood problems and knew how to get things done in government. His death is a loss for this community and this area." Near the end of his life as he fought [[cancer]], Freeman was also attempting to mitigate the closure of a Georgia Pacific plywood plant, the largest employer in Logansport. He worked with state and local agencies to help displaced workers and to procure solutions to the economic gap created from the loss of the plant.<ref name="The Shreveport Times">[http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS01/711270322/1002/NEWS The Shreveport Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>​

Steve Stephens of Logansport said that his friend Freeman did a "magnificent job and will be sorely missed.  ... Dennis understood problems and knew how to get things done in government. His death is a loss for this community and this area." Near the end of his life as he fought [[cancer]], Freeman was also attempting to mitigate the closure of a Georgia Pacific plywood plant, the largest employer in Logansport. He worked with state and local agencies to help displaced workers and to procure solutions to the economic gap created from the loss of the plant.<ref name="The Shreveport Times">[http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS01/711270322/1002/NEWS The Shreveport Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>​

 

==Background and political campaigns==

==Background and political campaigns==

Freeman was the youngest of six sons born to L. L. Freeman and Britt Annie Freeman in Joaquin in Shelby County in east Texas, located across the Louisiana line from Logansport. He graduated from [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] and earned his livelihood for nearly forty years as an independent [[insurance]] agent. As Logansport mayor, he worked to procure grants for water, streets, sanitary sewers, parks and local government operations. He was an officer of the Louisiana Municipal Association and a board member of the Sabine River Authority. He was a director for the Bank of Logansport.<ref name="Legacy.com Secure Server"/>​

Freeman was the youngest of six sons born to L. L. Freeman and Britt Annie Freeman in Joaquin in Shelby County in east Texas, located across the Louisiana line from Logansport. He graduated from [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] and earned his livelihood for nearly forty years as an independent [[insurance]] agent. As Logansport mayor, he worked to procure grants for water, streets, sanitary sewers, parks and local government operations. He was an officer of the Louisiana Municipal Association and a board member of the Sabine River Authority. He was a director for the Bank of Logansport.<ref name="Legacy.com Secure Server"/>​

 

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.

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. 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. 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.

 

==Legacy==

==Legacy==

 

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:​ "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"/>

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:​ "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"/>

==References==

==References==

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[[Category:Louisiana People]]

[[Category:Louisiana People]]