Robert “Bob” Stewart Freeland, 93, died Oct. 11, at his residence in Whittier, Calif.
He was born Nov. 17, 1915, in Guthrie, Okla., and was the oldest son of Robert Haddon and Ethel May (Stewart) Freeland.
The family moved to Burns in 1932, where they owned two farms.
Bob and his brothers, Edgar and Stanley, helped with farm work.
During the Depression, the family engaged in various business ventures, including a hamburger stand in Pomona, Calif., a dairy and vegetable farm in Crystola, Colo., a lunch stand in Redlands, Calif., and a candy and popcorn stand in Norman, Okla. Bob spent the winter of 1932 in Norman with his Uncle Willis and Aunt Anna Freeland so he could graduate from Norman High School the following spring.
He then returned to Kansas and attended El Dorado Junior College for a year and a half.
He spent the summer of 1934 working at a candy and newsstand near the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan.
In 1935, he began working as an apprentice in the photoengraving department of a large printing company in Los Angeles, beginning a career of 46 years as a lithographer.
He married Hazel Pauline Mount on Sept. 30, 1938, in Los Angeles.
During the World War II years of 1943 and 1944, he printed invasion maps of Europe and the Pacific. In May 1945, Bob joined the Merchant Marines. He trained on Catalina Island and was sent to Oakland, Calif., and eventually shipped out to New Orleans.
Bob and Hazel bought land on Palos Verdes Peninsula in 1952 and built a home there.
During the 1970s, they began touring many states and Canada in their recreational vehicle. They traveled to Burns on numerous occasions to visit family members. They also went on tours to Israel, Egypt, Greece, Mexico, France, Italy, the British Isles, Scandinavian countries, Eastern Europe, and China.
They celebrated their 50th anniversary in September 1988. Hazel died Feb. 3, 1989.
On Oct. 29, 1989, Bob married June McNamee Rogers, a woman he had dated years earlier while living in Burns. They traveled to many states, including Hawaii, during their 11 years of marriage. She died May 31, 2001.
Bob married Iris Osley on Dec. 1, 2001, and they traveled to Manhattan, to spend their honeymoon with his brother Edgar and sister-in-law Edla.
Bob celebrated his 90th birthday in November 2005 with family and friends in California.
In summer 2007, family members from across the country gathered in California for a Freeland reunion at which Bob was the patriarch.
He was a good photographer, he took many landscape and portrait pictures throughout his life.
He lived in his home in Rancho Palos Verdes until ill health caused him and Iris to move to an assisted living facility in Whittier, Calif.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Hazel; his second wife, June; and his brother Edgar.
He is survived by his wife, Iris; three sons, Robert (Bob) Jr. and his wife, Kate, Jeff of Burley, Idaho, and Peter of North Ogden, Utah; a stepson, Fred Nandy and his wife, Patricia; a brother, Stanley and his wife, Kay, of Chino Hills, Calif.; a sister-in-law, Edla Freeland of Manhattan; three grandchildren, Kim Ferrari, Jeffrey Freeland, and Jaclyn Freeland; eight step-grandchildren, Danielle, Ryan, Patrick, John, Kathy, Christine, Alexandra, and William; five great-grandchildren, Heather, Brian, Illana, Isabella, and Liliana; a great-great-grandchild, Roston; a nephew, David Freeland; and two nieces, Gloria Freeland and Gaila Chambi.
Interment was Oct. 15 at Green Hills Cemetery in San Pedro, Calif.