Lowdell Freeman has lived in Butler County her entire life. Part of a family of seven boys and seven girls, she grew up in the Dock community, 11 miles east of Greenville, near Honoraville.

“We worked in the fields as soon as we were old enough and mostly stayed around home,” she recalls.

As an adult, she spent 19 years working at Foster’s Manufacturing in Greenville. When that textile plant closed, she went to Dozier to work as an inspector, testing samples of textile products.

Married in 1951 to the late Joseph Freeman, the couple raised three children together, two daughters and a son.

“My husband mostly farmed and later he drove a school bus for a number of years. After he got done with that, he said he was going to retire for good,” Freeman says with a smile.

Tragically, the couple lost their only son when he was killed in a head-on collision.

After 22 years at the plant in Dozier, Freeman retired in 2002. Grandmother of five – four boys and one girl – she is also a great-grandmother to one child.

“I have one grandchild who lives locally. Everybody else in my family is scattered here and there – Montgomery, Baltimore, Maryland – all around,” she says.

Since retiring, Freeman has enjoyed gardening (“Although I can’t do as much of it as I used to”) and for the last two years, attending the Greenville Senior Nutrition Center on Cedar Street.

“I really like talking to all the people here. And every Thursday, we have singings, and I enjoy that,” Freeman says.

She is also still active in her church, Bethlehem Baptist, where she attends services every Sunday.

“I’ve been going there every since I was 12 years old,” she says with pride.