Eddie Ray (E.R.) Freeman 1947-2025

Ed Freeman, 78, of Bartlett, TN, passed away peacefully on June 11, 2025.

He was born in Gideon, MO in 1947 to Hubert and Lula (Crawford) Freeman.  Ed attended school in Gideon and Wardell Missouri and when not engaging in mischief reportedly chopped a great deal of cotton. Upon graduation, he joined the Navy in 1965, serving aboard the USS Douglas H. Fox (DD779) through 1969. He wed Joan Woolverton in 1970.

Ed joined the Memphis Fire Department in 1969. Known as "Er" to his peers, he worked as a fire fighter until 1975, when he became a Paramedic. He remained an EMT with MFD until he retired.

Some say his driving style was permanently influenced by his time driving an ambulance.

He was happy to be a family man and took pride in providing a secure home for his wife and 3 children.  Ed enjoyed shooting sports, volunteering with the local Boy Scout troop, and reading old Westerns. He took a special joy in joking with his children, their friends, and all cousins and grandchildren that came through the house. An entire troop of boy scouts and all of his children share memories of covering their ears against the most obnoxious wake up song in the history of aggravation. Some of them now inflict it upon their own children, an enduring legacy.

Ed was preceded in death by his parents Hubert & Lula, his brothers Lyndon, Bill, and Gerald Freeman, and is survived by his wife of 56 years, Joan Freeman, his children Carol Killett and her husband Josh Killett, Robert Freeman and his wife Samantha Freeman and sons Jeremiah and Jonah Presson, & Laura Mauga and her husband Kalani Mauga and children Isaac Freeman, Kaipo and Noelle Mauga,  as well as his brother Ron Freeman, and an array of loved nieces & nephews.

A memorial service will be 11:00 a.m. Monday, July 14, 2025 at Immanuel Lutheran Church 6325 Raleigh LaGrange Rd, Memphis, TN 38134 with military honors.  He will be laid to rest 2:00 p.m. July 15, 2025 at West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery