Henry Baker "Bud" Freeman was born on Saturday September 25th, 1926 in rural Dale County Alabama. He was the second child of Thomas Windsor Freeman and Julia Peacock. At the time of Henry's birth, his father, Tom, a railroad construction worker, was stranded in south Florida as a survivor of the Great Miami Hurricane which had ravaged the peninsula the prior week. Throughout his life, Henry enjoyed telling the story of how "Daddy" rode the storm out in a railroad box car with his crew and was even trapped a couple of days when the car was blown off the tracks and on its side. For the first few years of Henry's life, as America plummeted further into depths of the Great Depression, Julia and her three children lived on the Peacock's family farm in Alabama. Tom was fortunate enough to have a paycheck during those "hard times" as he continued to get steady railroad construction work in Florida; however, he was frequently living away from his family in construction camps. In 1930, the family moved from Alabama to Satsuma Florida, where he got a job with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad as the bridge tender at Buffalo Bluff on the St John's River. Henry recalled riding on the train with his mother and siblings from Alabama to their new home and staying the night at the old railroad hotel in Seville Florida. At Buffalo Bluff, the Freeman's lived in a stilt house over the water on the St John's River. Henry spoke fondly of the river life, it's natural beauty, the abundance of fish and game, and the simplicity it offered. He recollected seeing the last of some of Florida's great steamboats and barges as they plied the river between Jacksonville and Sanford, as well as floating lumber camps, and various "Cracker" folks in boats on the river selling everything from shotguns to sugar. After a couple of years, when Henry's father got a new job a Section Foreman on the railroad's mainline a few miles south, the family moved to a small frame house on County Road 3 near Barberville. Henry recalled the desolation of living "way out there" and said the best memories he had from this time was keeping an alligator for a "pet" in their artesian well and riding an old steam train to DeLeon Springs for a railroad picnic, when President Roosevelt declared the first "Labor Day" in 1933. He also had two pet Fox Squirrels, Tom and Jerry, and a Water Moccasin in a fruit jar! In December of that year, the young Freeman family was touched by disaster on December 14th when, on a particularly foggy morning, the Model T Ford bus taking Henry and his brother Tom to school in Crescent City stalled at the Silver Pond Grove crossing and was struck by a southbound freight train. Eight children were killed instantly and another thirty were critically injured. Tom was injured and spent months in recovery and Henry narrowly escaped serious injury with only minor cuts and scrapes. Henry said of the incident, "When the train hit the bus I was knocked out and the next thing I remember was feeling something hot and a man picking me up!" The hand of fate had intervened and put the 7-year-old boy on the locomotive's cowcatcher to keep him safe! In 1934, when the economic times were really getting tough, Henry's dad moved the family south to Lake Mary, Florida. Tom had been able to secure a better job with the Atlantic Coastline Railroad as the Section Foreman for the mainline track between Belair and Longwood. The Freemans moved to a railroad house in the tiny town of Lake Mary where the 30 families living there either worked for the railroad or grew citrus. Their house, along with a hand full of other workers' quarters and a commissary, was situated between the railroad and the north western shore of the actual Lake Mary itself. Throughout his life, Henry spoke of the clarity of the water and the abundance of fish in the lakes back then; "you could look down at the Bream, Bass, and Specs and pick out the ones you wanted for supper! Henry attended school through eighth grade at the Lake Mary school and then attended Seminole High in Sanford beginning in 1940. After school and on Saturdays, he began learning the grocery trade as he worked as a meat cutter at the Margaret Anne grocery store on 1st Street in downtown Sanford to help the family with additional income. Henry answered the call of service during WW2, when in 1944, he joined the US Navy at 17 years old. After a few weeks of basic training at Camp Peary, Virginia and Cooks' and Bakers' service schools in Corpus Christie, Texas, Henry was assigned to the dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall (LSD 5) and was deployed to the Western Pacific to engage support functions for the Island Hop of Marines and Army troops closer to the Japanese home islands and VJ Day. For several months, he was assigned to Base Hospital #20 on Peleliu Palau Island and was involved in caring for some of the 316 survivors of the cruiser Indianapolis after it was torpedoed by the Imperial Japanese Navy on July 30th, 1945. After the war ended, Henry returned to his Gunston Hall assignment and was deployed to Bikini Atoll in May 1946 to participate in Operation Crossroads, the famous series of post-war atomic bomb tests. In October 1947, Henry was discharged from active duty and returned home to Lake Mary, Florida. Unsure about his path, the 21-year-old went back to meat cutter work and finished school at Seminole High. Thinking he might be a railroad man like his father and grandfather, Henry took a job as a Switchman with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in Sanford at Rand's Yard. After a few months, realizing the railroad life wasn't for him, Henry was hired as a Butcher for Swift Meats on South Orange Avenue in Orlando. He was an extremely hardworking, humble, and likeable young man so it was no surprise that he was quickly promoted to the position of meat cutting supervisor. Throughout his life, Henry spoke about butchering beef, pork, and lamb by the box carload and grinding mountains of hamburger. After his promotion he soon bought a brand new 1952 Mercury Monterey convertible which promptly caught the eye of Nancy Jackson in Longwood, Florida as he whizzed by her house in it on the Old Dixie Highway: the main road through town in those days. Henry and Nancy were introduced, dated a few months, and were married on October 8th, 1952 at Nancy's home in Longwood. Mom always said "Bud looked a lot sharper in that snappy yellow convertible than he did in the old pickup truck! That's why I think for the rest of his life Dad would say "that was my favorite car for a lot of reasons!" Through the next 40 years, Dad stayed in the meat business; but left Swift operations work for a series of sales and marketing positions with Plantation Foods, Montfort of Colorado, and Sysco Inc, as Central Florida business exploded in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. In addition, he and Mom ran a successful grove business in the Longwood area for many years, until a series of freezes in the 1980s put an end to the area's 100-year-old citrus culture. Together in Longwood at the "home place", they shared a blessed, abundant life, raised two sons, and created the best family memories ever! In 1996 the couple sold the house, began selling the old grove properties, and fulfilled a lifelong dream of full-time coastal living when they purchased an ocean front condominium on New Smyrna Beach. For the next few years, Dad and Mom enjoyed the fruits of hard work as they traveled the world, dined at all the best places, and pretty much just enjoyed each other's company every day. Dad also spent time fishing, sailing, reading, pouring Scotch, and cooking; boy was he great at that! Early on June 12, 2020, his beloved Nancy died peacefully at their home and sadly Dad's candle started slowly burning out with his Soul Mate's passing. He is survived by his Son, Harold "Hal" Freeman and wife Jennie, Mt Plymouth, Fl. Son Bradley "Brad" Freeman and wife Hannah, St Louis, Mo. Granddaughter Jessica Freeman Jensen and husband William, Sanford, Fl; Grandson Ryan Freeman and wife Catalina, Dallas Tx; Grandsons Cameron and Jackson Freeman, St Louis, Mo; Great Grandchildren, Charlotte and Georgia Freeman, Dallas, Tx; Camden and Jackson Jensen, Sanford Fl.