This is a photo of my great grandfather, Richard Gavin Freeman. The picture was taken in 1997 when he was eighty. I never met him, as he lived across the Atlantic and was quite frail when I was born but I feel I knew him from family stories.

My great grandfather was a compassionate, determined man. He never gave up on something he cared about. One thing he loved was politics. At age 20, he went to a tractor driving school so he could be of use to Russian farmers in their revolution. In his old age, he suffered memory loss, but never lost his passion for cricket, bird watching, and the daily news.

Richard Gavin Freeman was a funny, and charming guy as well very rebellious.  He was a raconteur and he had every one listening and in awe when he told people stories. He valued people who were interesting and worldly more than others who were simply smart. He assumed if WWll was fought like WWl he (seeing as he was a member of the upper class) would enter the war as an officer. In WWl* officers wore red coats and got up out of the trenches first, and often killed first. Because of this he felt his chances weren’t great. He once told my dad that only the very luckiest survived the four years.

After the war my Great grandfather became a judge, and was able to find the humanity in petty criminals and championed the under-represented. I respected and admired him for this as well as his endless curiosity and zest for life.
 

*In the piece, I had said WWll, however, WWl is the time where the redcoats had been worn.