Joanna Mae Walker Freeman, 95, of Hendersonville, Tennessee, formerly of Pittsburg, passed away at 2:50 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, at Vitality Living and Assisted Care in Hendersonville.
She was born on March 22, 1929, in Overland Park, Kansas, to Walter Joseph and Mae (Patterson) Walker and grew up in Kansas City and Boulder City, Missouri, graduating from high school in Stella, Missouri. She received a bachelor’s degree from Southwest Missouri State University, a Master of Arts in English from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas.
Dr. Freeman was a professor in the Pittsburg State University English Department for thirty years and was selected as a Kansas Master Teacher in 1982 and as the English Department’s Outstanding Faculty Member in 1993. In 1970, she established the Technical Writing Program at PSU and founded the student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication in 1989. She also served as sponsor of Sigma Tau Delta, the English Honor Society. She was an avid reader and she loved to travel, doing several sabbaticals in England. Outside the Pitt State classroom, she enjoyed cooking and entertaining friends, sewing, plays, movies, crossword puzzles and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Her professional memberships included the Society for Technical Communication, National Council of Teachers of English, Missouri Philological Association, Kansas Teachers of English, Christianity and Literature, and British Studies. The author of several books and many articles, Dr. Freeman was listed in Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who in the Midwest, and in Notable Americans. Locally, she was a member of PEO Chapter AQ, the Friday Study Club, Southeast Kansas Retired School Personnel, and the Via Christi Auxiliary.
She was active in the Church of Christ, teaching Bible classes in local nursing homes for many years and from 1996 to 2016, teaching a weekly Bible class for women of the Church of Christ and for women of the community.
She married her beloved husband Thomas G. Freeman on May 20, 1951, in Neosho, Missouri. He died in 1996.
Of the many things Joanna Freeman cherished, none was greater than the time spent with her family. Survivors include her much loved grandchildren: Ben Williams of Las Vegas, Nevada; Jill Williams Castle and husband, Jeff of Hendersonville, Tennessee; Paige Williams of Jackson, Tennessee; Amilia Freeman Lyon and husband, Will of Missoula, Montana; and Andrew Freeman and wife, Katie of Kalispell, Montana. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren: Emory Catherine Castle, Hudson Downey Castle, Timothy Craig Freeman, and Georgia Dee Walker Freeman; by her daughter-in-law, Cindy Freeman of Lakeside, Montana; by her sister-in-law, JoAnne Walker of Eldorado Springs, Missouri; and by several nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband, a son, Dr. Timothy Thomas Freeman in 1999; a daughter, Cathie Freeman Williams in 2008; and two brothers, Bud Walker in 2010; and Jim Walker in 2013.
Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Pittsburg Church of Christ with Elder Marvin Clothier officiating. Burial will follow in the Hazelgreen Cemetery, in Boulder City, Missouri. In lieu of flowers, and because of her love for her church, memorial contributions to the Pittsburg Church of Christ are suggested. These may be left at or mailed to the Brenner Mortuary, 114 E. 4th St., Pittsburg, KS 66762. Online condolences may be left at www.brennermortuary.com. Arrangements are under the direction of the Brenner Mortuary, Pittsburg, KS.
