Montine Freeman, Philanthropist, 83
Submitted By N.O.V.A.
Times Picayune 	12-3-1998


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Montine McDaniel Freeman, a New Orleans gardener and philanthropist honored for
her preservation work, died Wednesday at Ochsner Foundation Hospital. She was 83.

A native of Forrest City, Ark., she moved to New Orleans to attend Newcomb
College. She played violin in the college orchestra, was a member of Pi Beta Phi
sorority and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1936.

Later that year, she married Richard W. Freeman, the son of A.B. Freeman, who had
the first Coca-Cola franchise in New Orleans.

While her husband was in the Army during World War II, Mrs. Freeman, who was known
as Tina to her family and friends, completed a pre-medical-school curriculum
because she wanted to practice medicine among poor people in Mississippi, said her
daughter, Tina Freeman Woollam.

But that didn't work out, said Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin, a niece.

Her desire to be a doctor "was not a lark," Benjamin said. "She was a very bright
person, but because she was so pretty and soft-spoken, she never was given credit
for the fact that she was incredibly bright."

Mrs. Freeman was a past president of the New Orleans Town Gardeners and vice
president of the Garden Club of America. In 1973, she received an award from the
New Orleans club for her work in conservation and historic preservation.

In 1995, the Garden Club of America established the Montine McDaniel Freeman Medal
in her honor.

The reason for Mrs. Freeman's zeal for gardening was simple, Benjamin said.

When Mrs. Freeman was a young wife and mother, gardening was one of the few areas
where a woman could excel, Benjamin said. "The only places a woman had to shine
were her home and her garden. You can only furnish a home so many times, but you
can change your garden a lot."

Mrs. Freeman also was passionate about New Orleans architecture and historic
preservation, Woollam said. In 1977, the Garden Club of America gave her the Amy
Angell Collier Montague Medal for her role in helping to restore Gallier House.

Besides renovating old homes, Mrs. Freeman imbued her children with a strong sense
of the area's history and architecture, her daughter said.

Mrs. Freeman, an early member of the Louisiana Landmarks Society, also was a
member of the Junior League of New Orleans Garden Club and a board member of the
National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii.

She was a benefactor, trustee and honorary life trustee of the New Orleans Museum
of Art and a trustee for the Ella West Freeman Foundation, a foundation named for
her mother-in-law that supports the museum's educational and charitable
activities.

In the 1960s, Mrs. Freeman was active in the museum's successful public fund-
raising drive to buy Edgar Degas' portrait of Estelle Musson, which he painted in
New Orleans, said John Bullard, the museum's director.

Working through foundations established by her husband's family, she contributed
heavily to the museum's expansion, Bullard said. Mrs. Freeman last year endowed
the position Bullard holds, making him the Montine McDaniel Freeman director of
the museum.

She received the Isaac Delgado Memorial Award, given annually to a person who has
made significant contributions to the museum's growth.

At Newcomb, the art department's auditorium was named for her last year.

A former queen of the Mystic Club, Mrs. Freeman was a board member of the New
Orleans Symphony Orchestra, a sustaining member of the Junior League of New
Orleans and a member of the Orleans Club, Le Petit Salon, the Colonial Dames of
America and the National Society of Colonial Dames of America.

Mrs. Freeman also was an enthusiastic swimmer and world traveler who didn't
hesitate to embark on a journey if her husband couldn't go along, Benjamin said.

"She was the first person that I knew who went to India back in the days when
nobody was going there," Benjamin said. "I remember my mother once said, 'Tina has
an itchy foot, and she knows just what she needs to do to scratch it.' ... When
she wanted to do something, she damn well did it, and did it well."

Her husband died in 1985. Besides her daughter, survivors include two sons, Louis
McDaniel and Richard West Freeman Jr.; eight grandchildren; and 11 great-
grandchildren.

A funeral will be held Friday at 3 p.m. at St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church,
1545 State St. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m. Burial will be private. Lake Lawn
Metairie Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.