Marion Wicks Freymann – Chief Petty Officer, United States Navy

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From contemporary press reports: October 11, 1994

Marion Wicks Freymann, a Navy veteran of World War I and a former longtime Chapel Hill, North Carolina,  resident, has died at the age of 102.

She died October 3, 1993 at a convalescent center in Avon, Connecticut. Her long, rich life took Mrs. Freymann on travels across the country, from her birth in 1892 in Los Angeles, a town of 51,000 at the time, to Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Nebraska.

Her circle of acquaintances included the likes of author Thomas Mann, former first lady Grace Coolidge, President and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Helen Keller and boxing champion Gene Tunney.

A staunch Democrat, she prided herself on having cast a ballot in every U.S. election in which women were able to vote.

Mrs. Freymann spent much of her childhood in Texas, then attended Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., from 1909 to 1912.

Following a brief flirtation with the New York theater, she enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1917 and spent the remainder of World   War I as a chief petty officer in the newly created Office of Naval Intelligence in Philadelphia.

She married Dr. John J. Freymann, a Naval surgeon in 1919. After their discharge from service, they settled in Omaha, Nebraska,   where she became prominent in civic, social and cultural affairs.

Her husband returned to duty in World War II, and Mrs. Freymann spent a brief stay in Massachusetts before settling in New York. She worked with Naval Relief until the war ended when her family moved to Omaha. They stayed until Dr. Freymann’s death in 1964.

She moved to Chapel Hill in 1967 and remained there until 1991.

Always an avid reader and student of European history, Mrs. Freymann continued following world events and pursuing her interest in genealogy until her final years.

Mrs. Freymann is survived by three sons: Dr. John Gordon Freymann of Avon, Conn.; Dr. Moye Wicks Freymann of Chapel Hill; and Jarvis M. Freymann of Scituate, Mass. She will be buried next to her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.

FREYMANN, JOHN JOSEPH

  • CAPT   US NAVY
  • WORLD WAR I
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 12/13/1889
  • DATE OF DEATH: 03/30/1964
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 35  SITE 1286
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY  

FREYMANN, MARION WICKS

  • DATE OF BIRTH: 01/18/1892
  • DATE OF DEATH: 10/03/1994
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 35  SITE 1286
  • ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
  • WIFE OF FREYMANN, JOHN JOSEPH CAPT   US NAVY

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