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Susan Freeman, a woman always impeccably dressed, nonetheless turned up on a front page of the newspaper in her housecoat a few years ago.
The preschoolers in her Columbia neighborhood were holding their annual Veterans Day parade, marching around the block. And Freeman — a former teacher, a woman who believed in nothing if not kindness — wasn’t going to miss it just because she hadn’t had time to change.
“This was a special occasion for them,” she said, waving from her porch, “and I was looking forward to it.”
This week, the 93-year-old Freeman, a civic leader who helped restore the historic Waverly neighborhood to its former glory, passed away.
She lived in Waverly her entire life, graduating from Benedict College in 1934 and moving into a white house, with its broad front porch, on Oak Street in 1937.
She was a founder of her neighborhood association, serving as historian and secretary for decades.
City Councilman E.W. Cromartie said he often received letters from Freeman on beautiful stationery, graciously setting out her desires for her community. “The way she would post it, and the way she would ask, it was always such a gentle way that I had to get right up and get it done.”
Thelma Salmond, a fellow member of First Calvary Baptist Church, said Freeman was known for writing notes of congratulation whenever she heard good news about someone. “She was very generous with her praise.”
Freeman also wrote about her spiritual beliefs, jotting notes in each of her many Bibles.
“She was a believer in the fruits of the spirit,” said her niece Betty Jones, who was like a daughter to her. “One of them that impressed her was the fruit of kindness. She felt it was a fruit that anyone could grow if they wanted to, and she was a kind person.”
Freeman never missed a family occasion — a birth, graduation or wedding.
Freeman was loyal to Benedict College, too. Mildred Knightner, who worked at the college, said Freeman would buy Benedict T-shirts for students who didn’t have them.
In recent years, many college students of history or sociology found their way into Freeman’s living room as they looked to document Columbia’s black history.
At a birthday celebration held at Benedict College a few years back, a former student got up and told the audience that, as a boy, he’d been one of Freeman’s favorite students.
It was only years later that he found out she treated all the kids that way.
Reach Hinshaw at (803) 771-8641.
