Letha Gertrude (Collins) Freer

Letha Gertrude Freer (nee Collins), 92, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, died Sunday, January 1, 2012 at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center.
Mrs. Freer was born October 27, 1919 in North Central Butler County in a farmhouse that was later transformed into the Collins Store, a local historical landmark. Her childhood included the hardships and rewards of growing up on a hardscrabble farm. She and her sister Mary walked several miles to attend Martin School and Rombauer School. With the advent of school bus service she attended and graduated from Poplar Bluff High School in 1939. After passing her teacher competency exam she taught two years 1939-1941 at Mast School and one year 1941-1942 at Martin School. Both schools were rural one-room Butler County elementary schools that included grades first through eighth. Later, 1957-1958 she taught Kindergarten in Illesheim, Germany, a Department of Defense School.
On her birthday in 1941, she married her childhood sweetheart Ralph Gideon Freer at the Butler County Court House. The marriage was performed by the late Judge D. B. Deem. Their 65-year marriage was blessed with three children Ralph Wayne, Ronald Dale, and Carolyn Lee. As the wife of a career solider she traveled and lived throughout the United States and Europe. Highlights of her travels were visiting Paris, France, attending the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels, Belgium, transiting the Atlantic Ocean by both plane and ship, and enjoying the majestic views of the Rocky Mountains.
Her interests were varied and many. She was a member of the Butler County Genealogical Society, Hamtown Church, and the local Civilian Conservation Corps Legacy. She enjoyed traveling, gardening, reading, word searches, puzzles, quilting, sewing, and mending. The family often commented that she could mend anything from prom dresses to socks. In her long and productive life she was considered her family's national treasure.
Mrs. Freer is survived by one son, Ralph Wayne Freer and wife Gaëlle of Poplar Bluff and one daughter Carolyn Lee Hicks and husband Dale of Hendrickson, Mo.; four grandchildren, Teresa Webb and her husband Chris, Brian Hicks and his wife Amanda, Blake Smoot and her husband Scott, and Alexander Freer; and five great-grandchildren, Carson and Lauren Webb, and Luke, Lily and Ava Hicks.
She was preceded in death by her husband Ralph Gideon Freer, son Ronald Dale Freer, parents Lee and May Collins, sisters Mary and Laura and brothers William and Claude.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Cotrell Funeral Chapel in Poplar Bluff. The funeral services will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Cotrell Funeral Chapel with Terry Scott and Ralph Mayes officiating. Burial will be at Old Oak Hill Church and Cemetery.