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In memory of

Heinz Freese

Asheville, NC, USA

October 14, 1930 - February 5, 2021

Oct 14, 1930 - Feb 5, 2021

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Heinz Otto Freese, age 90, died February 5, 2021, in Asheville, NC.

Heinz was born 10/14/1930 in Berlin, Germany, the second son (after Werner Freese) of Marta Sass Freese and Otto Freese. Heinz worked for Siemens after WWII. In his 20s, he was sponsored by a cousin and emigrated to Chicago where he taught himself English, attended Chicago Technical College, served in the U.S. Army, met his wife of 52 years, Elizabeth DeGroot Freese (deceased 12/2011), became a Mason in Beacon Light Lodge #784 in 1965 which later merged into King Oscar Lodge #855 in Chicago, and was an accomplished Tool & Die machinist until his well-deserved retirement.

Heinz spent most of his adult life in the Ravenswood Manor neighborhood, where he enjoyed and excelled at gardening, puttering around in his basement workshop, restoring antiques, making stained glass art, and crafting sterling silver Navajo-style jewelry. In his later years, he enjoyed going on Elderhostel adventures with his wife, and being a bluebird box monitor at his retirement home.

Heinz belonged to the Shirley Heinze Foundation, the Izaak Walton League and the Save the Dunes Council in Indiana, where he had a summer home just outside the boundaries of what is finally Indiana Dunes National Park.

He will be missed by his friends, German relatives, daughter Lisanne Freese (John Hinkle) of Chicago and adopted daughter Bettina Freese and her children Elijah Freese and Wyatt Hinker of Asheville, NC.

Heinz would have appreciated a donation in his memory to Amnesty International; Habitat for Humanity; the Native American Rights Fund; Environmental Defense Fund; or the American Chestnut Foundation.

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