Hamner Garland Freeman III

1934 - 2009

Hamner "DeeDee" Garland Freeman III, 75, of Westville, a former Montgomery resident, died Sept. 11, 2009 in Westville. He was born in Shanghai, China on April 7, 1934, younger child of leaf tobacco trader Hamner Garland Freeman, Jr. of Richmond, Va. and the former Cameron Middleton Brame of Montgomery. His father was a nephew of famed Southern historian Dr. Douglas Southall Freeman and his mother was of a family established in Montgomery since 1829, ten years after its founding.
As a child Dee and his elder sister Cameron attended the Shanghai American School until the family left China a year before Pearl Harbor. While their father served in the Pacific and back in China as an officer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the children attended public schools in Richmond, at Cloverdale and Lanier in Montgomery and Dee also in the Hurt School.
During the Korean War he enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1952 and served 11 years in surface, shore and submarine assignments including four 60-day submarine patrols in the North Atlantic and North Sea playing cat-and-mouse with the Soviet Navy during a cold part of the Cold War. He left the Navy in 1963 as a petty officer first class with the Navy Good Conduct and National Defense Service Medals. He became an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Married to Margaret Creamer of Panama City, they had three children: Deborah Freeman and husband Steven Coletti of Greenville, SC; James Scott Freeman of Douglasville, Ga. and Cameron Freeman and husband Bo Peters of Westville; seven grandchildren; four great-grandchildren, he is also survived by his sister Cameron Freeman Napier (Mrs. John H. III) of Montgomery.
Peel Funeral Home of Bonifay handled the funeral arrangements.