Friday, August 14, 2015

Service Aug. 21 at school gazebo for Freda Jean Campbell, 77


WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Longtime resident Freda Jean Campbell, mother of Cassandra Cleghorn, died peacefully in her sleep early in the morning of August 13, 2015. She was 77. 
Born in Elizabethton, Carter County, Tenn., on July 26, 1938 to Fred Lamar Campbell and Hattie Lois (Yates) Campbell, Freda lived an uncommonly rich life that led her to St. Petersburg, Fla.; Manhattan, Glens Falls and Ithaca, N.Y.; Cape May, N.J.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Ft. Wayne, Ind.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Penn.; Wilmington, Del.; Seattle; Santa Barbara, Calif.; and, over 10 years ago, to Berkshire County.
In Williamstown, she took enormous delight in people, art, music, books and nature. Freda was a tireless volunteer at the Milne Public Library and the Clark Art Institute. 
She is survived by her older sister, Barbara Wouters; by her four children, Cassandra Cleghorn, Angela Bolan, Paul Ondrejka, Nick Ondrejka, and their spouses; and by her 10 grandchildren: Oliver, Ripley, Eve, Merrill, Zachary, Jasper, Vina, Lauren, Liam, and Beau; and many other beloved, extended family members. Freda loved to travel -- crisscrossing the United States by train many times, and adventuring by herself to Mexico, London and Paris. 
Freda touched countless lives with her gifts of ikebana flower arranging, drawing and painting, sewing and quilting, cooking and storytelling. She was an expert card-player, and an almost unvanquished champion of Scrabble and Bananagrams. 
Her ashes will be scattered in the Smoky Mountains, the Purple Valley and the Pacific Ocean. Donations for a memorial fund to purchase flowering trees to be planted in her honor in Williamstown may be sent to Flynn and Dagnoli Funeral Home, 521 West Main St., North Adams, MA 01247. 
An informal gathering to celebrate Freda’s life will be held at the Williamstown Elementary School gazebo on Friday, Aug.21 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.