Millicent Coombs Freed

Millicent Coombs Freed, age 100, of Madison, Wisconsin passed away peacefully on September 13, 2009. Millicent was born in Madison on October 4, 1908, the only daughter of Fred and Gertrude Wilder Coombs.   She attended Christ Presbyterian Church in Madison and graduated from Madison High School. She studied at the University of Wisconsin, where she was a member of Delta Zeta Sorority and received two degrees, a BA in Economics in 1930 and BA Geography in 1933.   On May 26, 1934, she married Robert Byron Freed. They lived in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where all of their five children were born. The family was active at Trinity Lutheran Church, and Millicent assisted with Girl Scouts and 4-H, was active in the Garden Club and developed an interest and skill in sewing. In August, 1952, the family moved to Madison where they were long time members of Bethel Lutheran Church. Millicent was a member of the John Bell Chapter of the DAR, the Society of New England Women, the Wisconsin Alumni Half-Century Club, the American Association of University Women, the Wisconsin State Historical Society and Eastern Star.   She served as Housing Assignment Officer for Married Student Housing at the UW-Madison from 1959 to 1973, where she will be remembered as a welcoming and helpful person, ready to go the extra mile. She enjoyed collecting stamps from international correspondence, loved to study maps, Native American culture and history, and donated books, maps and other materials to the UW American Indian Study Group and the Wisconsin State Historical Society. After the death of her husband of 63 years in 1997, she moved to Oakwood Village in Madison, where she enjoyed reading history and poetry, reciting poetry and painting with watercolor. Survivors include four daughters: Janet Ostercamp (Daryl), Moorhead, MN; Marian Brant (David), Alexandria, VA; Margaret New, Middleburg, VA; Millicent Hawley (Robert), Grafton, WI; and one son, Robert Coombs Freed (Miriam Zachary), North Oaks, MN; eleven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.   She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents and three brothers and their respective wives: Walter Wilder Coombs (Elizabeth); Eugene Allen Coombs (Beth); and Donald Morrell Coombs (Lorna). A memorial service is planned at the Resurrection Chapel adjacent to Hebron Oaks at 1:30pm on October 12, following a private interment at Forest Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to The Oakwood Foundation, Bethel Lutheran Church or Bethel Horizons.