Robert Freemark

Robert Roosevelt Freemark was the grandfather of Nest Freemark.

Broad shoulders, large hands. Square face with prominent features. Thick and wavy snow-white hair combed straight back from a high forehead. 6′ 3″.¹Running with the Demon – p 23

Piercing blue eyes.

Dressed in jeans and blue work shirts.

Robert Freemark did not believe in magic. He could not see the Feeders²Running with the Demon – p 26 ³Running with the Demon – p 30, or any of the other Forest Creatures and more significantly could not understand the Freemark Women‘s connection to the park.⁴Running with the Demon – p 30

A rock solid citizen of Hopewell, and friend to everyone living there.

He believed Sinnissippi Park to be the most beautiful woods for miles.⁵Running with the Demon – p 34

Before his retirement Robert had worked at Midwest Continental Steel for thirty years⁶Running with the Demon – p 23; the last ten years as a foreman.⁷Running with the Demon – p 24 Served in the Korean War.⁸Running with the Demon – p 23

He had worked for the Jaycees, the United Way, the Cancer Fund and the Red Cross, assisting with their fund-raising efforts. He had been a member of the Kiwanis, the Moose and the VFW. A member of the First Congregational Church and had been a trustee and deacon until after his daughter died.⁹Running with the Demon – p 24

His father had been a farmer and owned a farm in Yorktown.¹⁰Running with the Demon – p 26

Retired from the mill about the same time as Mike Michaelson, a man he had known all his life.¹¹Running with the Demon – p 46

Drove a weathered Ford pickup.¹²Running with the Demon – p 34

Bob was part of the union crowd.¹³Robert Freemark, Al Garcia, Mel Riorden, Derry Howe, Richie Stoudt, Penny Williamson, Mike Michaelson, Junior Elway and one or two others formed the Union Crowd. They would gather at Josie’s each day.

A Knight of the Word

Robert died from a heart attack in May; three days before the end of Nest’s first year at Northwestern University and five months before the events of A Knight of the Word.¹⁴A Knight of the Word – p 12