William Freedman passed away on April 21, 2021 in Bath at the home of his daughter, Karen Freedman. William, or “Sonny” as he was known, was born April 15, 1925 in Chelsea, Mass. and upheld a profound loyalty to his hometown. So much so, he assumed that anyone he recognized was from Chelsea. He once shared an elevator ride in Las Vegas with Buddy Hackett and remarked to him, “You look familiar. Are you from Chelsea?”
Sonny was on the basketball team at the YMHA (Young Men’s Hebrew Association) in Chelsea, beginning a lifelong love affair with the Boston Celtics and basketball, in general. He graduated from Chelsea High School in May 1943 and was drafted into the US Army within weeks of his graduation. He was a member of the 168th Engineers Combat Battalion and was deployed to the Front Line at St. Vith, Belgium in December 1944. He unknowingly participated in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the most decisive battles influencing the outcome of World War II. He was captured in St. Vith on Dec. 22, 1944 and spent the remainder of WWII in POW camps until they were liberated by the Allies. He steadfastly refused to remove his “Star of David” necklace during his POW imprisonment despite great personal risk to himself. He was a quintessential member of the Greatest Generation remaining quietly modest about his role in history for the rest of his life. Sonny was Honorably Discharged on Nov. 14, 1945 and returned home to a hero’s welcome in Chelsea, Mass. He attended Boston University on the GI bill, earning a BA in Business Administration.
He married Muriel (Midge) Davidovitz on Dec. 18, 1949. They moved to Manchester, N.H., became involved in their local synagogue and community and started a business called South End Grain Mill. By 1958, they had three children, Scott, Renee and Karen. He was a fun-loving, gentle, involved father before that was a “thing”. He loved to mortify his daughters by holding their hands, then starting to skip while out in public. He attended every single high school game in which his son was involved (and there were many). By 1976, after all the kids had gone off to college, Midge and Sonny moved to Allentown, Pa. where they owned a Paperback Booksmith store. Midge used to say, “It takes a strong marriage to work together”, which clearly they had.
For a short while, they lived in So. Windsor, Conn. before retiring to Boynton Beach, Fla. joining the entirety of their Manchester, N.H. friend group which had also moved there. The Florida Years were truly their Golden Years, when all career concerns were set aside and all that mattered was family, with a particular focus on their grandchildren. They alternated hosting the grandchildren in Florida with visiting them in Maine and cultivated strong and genuine relationships with each of them. Throughout 70 years of marriage, Sonny remained by Midge’s side until the day she died, after a long battle with dementia. The love and devotion they shared continues to deeply inspire his entire family. After Midge passed away in 2020, Sonny moved to Bath to ride out the pandemic with his daughter, Karen and his son-in-law, David. He and David shared a yearlong cribbage tournament, with Sonny consistently beating David, including the night before he died. Sonny mourned the loss of his wife everyday but took advantage of living much closer to his children, grandchildren and especially his one great-granddaughter, Nel, the apple of his eye.
Sonny will be remembered as the most selfless human being his family has ever known. He used his kind and gentle nature as well as his sense of humor to comfort everyone around him, never thinking of how others might comfort him. He was a man of principle and honor. In a keepsake book that asked what advice would he want to pass on to his grandchildren, he wrote, “I try to never do anything that I would be ashamed of”. In the words of The Wizard of Oz to the Tin Man, “A heart is not judged by how much you have loved but by how much you are loved by others”. By that measure, Sonny’s life was beyond rich.
He was predeceased by his parents, Pearl and Abraham Freedman of Chelsea, Mass. and by his wife of 70 years, Muriel Freedman. He is survived by his 102 year old sister, Iabeth (Tootsie) Bloom of Middleton, Mass., his son Scott Freedman and his wife Linda of Falmouth, his daughter, Renee Freedman of Leverett, Mass., his daughter, Karen Freedman and her husband David of Bath, his four loving grandchildren, Cassie Freedman Sowles and her husband Matt, Kelsey Freedman, Maxwell Rawson and Lucy Rawson, and his great-granddaughter, Eleanor Sowles. A graveside service limited to immediate family will be held on May 25, 2021 at the Southern Maine Veterans Cemetery in Springvale. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to: The West Palm Beach VA Medical Center; Voluntary Service (135) 7305 N. Military Trail West Palm Beach, FL 33410