William August Freeman

William August Freeman (Bill) passed away with peace and gratitude at his home in Carmel, California, early Easter morning, March 31st, 2024. He was surrounded by love and care from his children, son-in-law and wife Cathleen.

He was born in San Francisco on July 15th, 1932 at the start of the Great Depression. He was taken home to Fairfax, California by ferry, as the Golden Gate Bridge did not yet exist. An empty dresser drawer served as his makeshift crib. His first true home was a one room cabin with no running water or heat. As younger brothers Ron, Dennis, and Tom arrived into his life, his family made their way to a home on an Orchard in Santa Clara. As a child, Bill worked the orchards before the sun came up, walked to school after morning labor and returned after school to work the fields until sundown.

At the age of 17 he moved with his parents and brothers to Smith Valley, Nevada. He graduated, along with his 9 other classmates in 1950. He enlisted in the United States Air Force and became a High Speed Radio Operator, sending and receiving morse code. His nickname “THE FOX” was picked up during his time in the Korean War, as his Radio Code Identity was ‘F’-‘O’-‘X’. The name stuck.

Following his time served in Korea, he worked in Nevada at the Anaconda Coppermine. He later worked as a Cowboy for a cattle ranch until he decided to attend San Jose State University. He completed a degree in Entomology and Chemistry, the first in his family to attend and complete College.

He was hired by FMC corporation as an Entomologist. 7 years later he was the director of Marketing for all 23 of FMC’s companies that included 63,000 employees. It was on a business flight from Atlanta to New York City that he met a flight attendant, Cathleen Collins. She quickly became the love of his life. They were married within 5 months of meeting and remained so for 55 years, 11 months and 4 days.

On the day Bill married Cathleen, he accepted a new job for a farm machinery company in the San Joaquin Valley. He flew the company Cessna 206 around California to make sales calls, sometimes with Cathleen along for the ride.

In 1971 Bill took a chance on a dream of becoming his own boss. He moved Cathleen and their one year old son, Billy, to Mariposa, California. He opened a real estate office in the small mountain town, outside the gates of Yosemite National Park. He was an original co-founder of Yosemite Bank and remained Director and Chairman of the Board for 22 years. On July 15th of 1982, his 50th birthday, he gave his corporation to his employees and retired. He took up the hobbies of golf, crafting oak furniture, and began to travel the world with his wife and many friends.

After years of owning a vacation home in Carmel, Bill and Cathleen made the move to become permanent residents of the Monterey Peninsula. Their children, William (Billy) and Anne are both graduates of Robert Louis Stevenson High School.

Bill had two previous children, prior to his marriage to Cathleen, Ken and Elizabeth. Both passed away, 3 years apart, each at the age of 49. In the face of the unimaginable, Bill continued to bravely love, live, bring joy, value life and be grateful for each day.

With all of Bill’s accomplishments, the word most often used to describe him is “Funny”. He was knockdown, drag out, hilarious, with a sharp wit that he was still using on his dying day. At the age of 86 he earned $1500 as the headline comic for a Dental convention in San Francisco. He managed to do a 45-minute set and had everyone in stitches from beginning to end.

At the age of 91 he continued to inspire us. He remained fiercely sharp, finishing the NY Times Crossword puzzles, beating us all at Jeopardy, adopting the latest technology, using Chat GPT to write poems for his loved ones, and much to the amusement of his grandchildren, showing them the latest apps and cool things to see on Tik Tok.

He was filled with charm, charisma, humor, talent, intelligence, generosity and kindness. Above all of those admirable qualities, he was the most rock solid, dependable person you could ever have in your corner. His lifelong motto could be seen in a sign he had made that hung above his desk for 50 years. It said “Let’s do what we say we’ll do.” When asked by his daughter if there was anything he would like the world to know about him, when the day came that she would have to write his obituary, he responded “Make sure people know my motto and that the world would be a better place, if people would do just that.”

Bill’s legacy will continue to be lived by his wife Cathleen, son William T. Freeman and life-partner Elizabeth Rahn, daughter Anne Freeman and son-in-law Dave Ransone, Grandchildren Kira and husband Chris Kashow, Evalyn and husband Chris Duke, Olivia Dickerson, Karina Marchione and fiancé Mike Hires, Grace Johnston, Fox Freeman, Caroline Freeman and Great Granddaughters, Kenley and Colbie Kashow.

A Celebration of Bill’s wonderful life will be held at 1:00 PM, May 5th, at the Del Mesa Library, followed by a reception at Woodys Del Mesa (200 Del Mesa Dr, Carmel-By-The-Sea, CA 93923).