On September 8, 2023 while surrounded by her family, the Angels came to carry Freeda Geraldine Mudd Gier to her Heavenly Home; she had lived an abundant and blessed life for 93 years. She was born on June 30th, 1930, to Ernest O. Mudd and Annie Bertha Brugger Mudd in Harrington, Washington.
Her father was raised on the Mudd Family Farm, near Burdette, in rural Bates County, Missouri. After Ernest finished college, he decided to work and follow the wheat harvest for an adventurous summer. He met the love of his life, Annie Bertha Brugger, near the wheat fields of Southeast Washington and he decided to live there to court her properly. They were married the following year and Freeda was the baby of the seven Mudd children born to them in the State of Washington.
When Freeda was six months old, her father was needed to manage and farm the Mudd Homestead and care for his aging mother, so the family moved back to Bates County, Missouri. Freeda attended the Burdette Country School and Merwin School for her grade school years. One of her responsibilities on the family farm was to ride her horse one mile to Burdette to pick up the mail. Once she had gathered the mail, she had to have a good grip on that saddle horn, because she always enjoyed a spirited ride back home, lucky to even get her foot in the second stirrup by the top of the hill! Freeda graduated from Adrian High School in 1948 and was very proud of being on the ladies basketball team.
Freeda attended Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. Following that, she went to Beauty School in Kansas City and was employed at the Christmas Beauty Salon, just south of downtown Kansas City. Later in her career, she worked for Jakie’s Beauty Salon in Clinton, Missouri, where she met her future husband, Bill Gier. They were married in September of 1951.
While Bill served in the U. S. Marine Corp during the Korean War, Freeda continued to work as a beautician in Kansas City. When Bill finished his tour of duty in Korea, he was trying to sneak home to surprise her; yet when he arrived at Union Station in Kansas City, there she was standing to surprise him most of all! His new work with American Breeder’s Service brought them to live in Nebraska and Iowa, as well as Maryville, Missouri and finally Carthage, Missouri. Freeda is the loving and devoted mother of Gloria, who was born in 1954, and Angela, born in 1956.
Later in 1956, their lives settled back in rural Bates County, near the Burdette Baptist Church, where her mother (Annie B. Mudd) taught the children in Beginners Sunday School for fifty years! Their lives were intensely focused on God, family, neighbors, farming and their faithful church attendance. Freeda was baptized in the creek at the age of 12.
Freeda’s loving hands worked hard as a homemaker, a licensed beautician, even giving many haircuts and perms in her home. After becoming a single Mom, she attended Draughon’s Business College to further her education in 1965, all to take care of her family.
After her father passed in 1963 and her mother in 1969, Freeda moved her family to Butler, Missouri, with the help of her loving companion, Homer Wix, to a home that he had built on Olive Street. Homer brought great joy to her life and was a cherished member of our family with his steadfast loving hands.
Freeda was a Powerhouse in her day, afraid of nothing. She had the courage to take on any project. Freeda’s meticulous talents were focused on painting and wallpapering and she excelled at finishing woodwork to the highest degree of smooth perfection. It was her trademark of expertise! She took great pride in the many beautiful homes that she was invited to work on in the Butler area.
And even though she had reached her retirement years, that dear Kevin Umstattd charmed her into doing just one more mansion! It was forever a sweet chapter and she was proud to share in their accomplishment!
Freeda was the most faithful Christian lady, from singing in church to painting the church, she met the needs of others in every way she could. She was a longtime member of Calvary Baptist Church. Her church family was very near and dear to her heart throughout the years of her life.
She will live on in our hearts forever! God’s Angels carried her to her heavenly home to join the family circle and loved ones waiting there, her parents, Ernest and Annie Brugger Mudd; her six siblings; and her loving companion, “Daddy Homer.” Left to cherish her memories are her daughters, Gloria (Norm) Appleberry and Angie (Mike) Culler; grandchildren, Travis (Kelli) Appleberry, Tracy (Greg) Fillpot, Jeremy (Annette) Culler, and Jennifer (Robby) Love; great-grandchildren, Jamee (Tommy) Fillpot, Zack (Hannah) Fillpot, Emmah (Brenton) Fillpot Laver, Olivia, Gracie and Ana Fillpot, Jaden and Bayler Mobley, and Jaxon and Adelyn Culler; great-great-grandchildren, Hadley and Harper Whitten and Normie Jo Laver; and niece, nephew, great-nieces and great-nephews.
