Charlotte Ann Freer (Barone) was born July 16, 1934, in Dickenson, ND to Joe and Eva Freer. She was the youngest of three but was quite determined to keep up with her sister Delores (Dodie) Freer Baumgartner and brother Raymond Freer as they ventured from North Dakota eventually settling in Yakima, WA.
Charlotte lived a long and full life. Although she endured many hardships, including losing two of her beloved children (Jimmy and Steve), she managed to lean on her faith and stay upbeat and optimistic.
She loved being active and in the mix of things including going to Husky and Seahawks games, golfing, road tripping in the motorhome and competing in numerous bowling, shuffleboard, and dart leagues. In her later years, Charlotte enjoyed playing BINGO and pinochle and going to “potato night” or happy hour at Jalisco’s with her besties (you all know who you are).
In the mid-60’s Charlotte volunteered with a group of women advocates who were working to gain education rights for children with disabilities. This led to the formation of the Northwest Center School (where her son Steve attended) and eventual passing of the US law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Because of her commitment to this cause and the impact it has had on future generations, we have chosen the NW Center for our preferred dotation site. You can read about their amazing history and dedicate a donation in memory of Charlotte Barone via this link https://www.nwcenter.org/support-northwest-center/make-a-donation/.
Charlotte was a charter member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles #4122 where she often enjoyed a nice stiff rum and coke poured by so many of her “favorite” bartenders over the years. She was also a member of the Elks Shoreline Emblem Club #189.
Her friends would describe Charlotte as friendly (she seemed to know and love EVERYONE), witty (albeit sometimes a bit inappropriate), and fun loving (always out for a good time). She was always happy to see you and made it known with a big hello and often an accompanying compliment, such as “you’re looking good today FILL IN NICKNAME HERE”. She could also hang with the best of them (I have a few gentlemen in mind here), exchanging barbs, smart-alecky comments, and crazy antics – which of course were all in good fun 🙂
Beyond all the fun, Charlotte’s family meant everything to her. Children, significant others, siblings, in-laws, cousins, nieces, and nephews for sure. But her grandchildren and great grands took the cake. They brought her the greatest joy!
She loved playing with them, reading them books, going on adventures, taking them out to eat, going to swim lessons, watching crazy shows over and over again and basically just hanging out. It was a rare occurrence for her to miss a sporting event, graduation, concert, birthday party or other important milestone. While she is with us in spirit, it is in these moments when she is no longer with us physically, that we will miss her most.
We hope that you will join us in taking comfort in knowing that she had a vision for how things would go at the end, and she got to go out just as she had planned, having lived independently among the neighbors that she adored and in the comfort of a family home.
RIP Char Baby – you will be missed!
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, July 13th at 5:00 pm at Unity in Lynnwood 16727 Alderwood Mall Pkwy, Lynnwood, WA 98037.