Edythe M. Freeouf

Edythe McKenna was born in Harlan County Kentucky on March 5, 1924. Her father worked for the railroad and she and her sister grew up traveling by train through Kentucky and beyond to Knoxville and Atlanta. Edythe moved to Memphis during WWII to live with her aunt, Helen Cannon, and to seek employment. There she met Dennis Freeouf whom she married in 1946. Dennis, having served in the Navy during the war went on to make a career in the service. Over the years they were stationed in Rhode Island, San Diego, and finally Memphis where they raised three children. Edythe’s sister and her family moved to Memphis and were later joined by their mother. Edythe lived much of her life at the center of a large extended family that gathered often to celebrate holidays and the shared stories of living. Edythe was very active in St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Bartlett, and later at Nativity Catholic Church. Between family and church, her network of friends and relations grew over the years as she met and made new friends in her many interests. That network grew also as she welcomed new members into the family and as the young people married and had children in whom she delighted. Edythe (Gam) was, for many decades, the beloved “mother” to a large community. She will be missed by all of us.

Edythe is survived by her three children, Pete Freeouf who lives in Thailand, Mary Baker of Virginia, and Dennis Freeouf who lives in Oxford Mississippi, and by her two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Visitation for Edythe will be held Thursday, September 7 from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM at Memphis Funeral Home, 5599 Poplar Ave, Memphis, Tennessee 38119. Funeral service will occur Friday, September 8, at 11:00 AM, at the funeral home. Graveside committal service will immediately follow at Memphis Memory Gardens, 6444 Raleigh Lagrange Road, Memphis, Tennessee 38134.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.MemphisFuneralPoplar.com for the Freeouf family.