| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 54, 107, 108, 116.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com).
Mountain home sweet move for Freemans of Grassy
Kay Freeman loves the porch of her home because of its splendid view of Rag Mountain. She cannot go outside much or for long periods because she requires intravenous feeding and medications to battle kidney cancer.
Author: David Popiel
August blistered into being true to its nature pushing the temperatures close to 100 degrees in our hometown where those who could sought solace in ice cold rooms, or if you were a hounddog, under a cool porch.
We left you last week pondering the work done by Sunset Gap for its work camp and mission homes projects each summer. Hundreds of church members from several states spend their vacations fixing up homes or building a few new ones to help folks. The annual mission home was awarded to a woman who is suffering with cancer. I've visited with her a couple of times since July.
This year Sunset Gap selected Kay Freeman, who lives off Spar Road at Green Corner in Grassy Fork. She has suffered with renal cell cancer since 2008 and is practically bedridden. She was weak in a recliner and using an intravenous mix when I first walked into her old home.
Sunset Gap Director Josh Dunn said she applied for the summer work camp for home repairs. Visiting church members from several states spend hot summer weeks doing repairs and house building each year.
When Josh visited Kay Freeman and her son, Stephen, at their old mobilehome, it became clear the repairs would cost more than a new structure. She has been living in the home for about 40 years. Her husband, the late Steve Freeman, had started building a home but he died several years ago. More about this is coming. Their unfinished log home is further up the mountain, a haunting testament to the past. It would cost far too much to complete this house.
Stephen was living and working in Colorado when he got the sad news of his mother's cancer. He quit his job, packed his things and returned to be by her side to assist and care for her.
She is the daughter of the late Stewart and Bea (Cates) Freeman and lives on the family farm. Her brother Walt Freeman lives nearby. It's about 20 miles from Newport to their homes. I revisited the kudzu land on another hot afternoon last Tuesday when the Joe Pye weed was tall and in its faded purple glory. Since an earlier visit the Spar Road sign has disappeared and lush green smothering weeds have narrowed the gravel road, which disappears into the shade of spindly poplar trees.
Kay Freeman refers to the site where she lives as the "old Mac Brown place." It was in April 2008 that she received news from her doctor of her terminal cancer.
"If it wasn't for Josh and Sunset Gap and the church members, I don't know what we would have done. There's black mold and leaking roof," said Stephen.
Dunn said the 800-square-feet house was built in three weeks thanks to three churches, each doing a different phase of construction. Jamestown Presbyterian started the house; Hillsborough Presbyterian worked the second week; and Clearbranch United Methodist finished the mission house. Clearbranch members live in Trussville, Alabama and the other churches are in North Carolina. Each church also put up at least $5,000 for building materials-a total of $15,000.
Hillsborough Presbyterian Church members have been visiting Bogard's Sunset Gap for the past eight years during the summer work camps. They work under Director Dunn's oversight and hands-on leadership, using Lowe's building supplies.
During my second visit to the homesite on July 23, the heat was unbearable. I saw Jimmy Proffitt and his wife assisting the church group. They had already started moving Kay's furniture and she was planning to take-up fulltime residence later in July after the power was turned on. One of the Clearbranch women told me the trip from Alabama takes about five hours one way. The church has a mission emphasis and has been coming to Cocke County for 10 years every third week in July. She said only last year did they have a bad experience. One of the men fell off a roof and shattered his knee, but he was able to return this year to work on the Freeman home. Josh was overseeing finish work inside and out and said, "We tried to take care of her. I think she'll be happy." Accommodating features include wheelchair ramp, wide doors, bench in shower, carpeting, electric heat and air conditioning, nice shaded porch. Kay will get some comfort the remaining days of her life as she sits on the front porch with a view of Rag and Snowbird Mountains and the Freeman family farm in the mountains at Green Corner off Spar Road.
I wanted to see Kay and Stephen in the finished home and did so and to see how she is feeling about the wonderful gift. "It was just a surprise. It's beautiful," she said, only wishing her health would allow her to get out to the porch more often.
And here is some more information about the family. Kay met Steve and married in 1971. He was a professional draftsman working for Hearthstone Builders and also Tim Munsey. At age 49, Steve was diagnosed with leukemia and died May 7, 2001 after a short illness. In addition to Stevie, Kay's other son is Joey Owings, a Cocke County deputy. As I mentioned earlier, she is a Freeman from Del Rio who married a Freeman. For some years she lived and worked in Greenville, SC as a beautician. Later she was an executive housekeeper with Edgewater in Gatlinburg. During the construction of the new, small home she said she avoided visiting it until all the work was done. It was well worth the wait and an ongoing blessing.
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(Age ~ 99 years)