Dearest, sweet Melissa,

You were a Christmas present, born to Richard and Gwendolyn Freeman on December 18, 1958, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You inherited your Mother's beauty, her tireless energy, love of travel, and boundless generosity. You inherited your Father's fascination with history, insatiable curiosity, love of learning, and steely determination. Your tenacity--some might call it stubbornness--that was all your own. Not wanting to be left behind by older siblings Michael, Melodie, and Mitchael, you walked at just seven months, began talking about the same time, and you never slowed down for the rest of your life. You loved taking care of your baby sister, Marla.

When your family grew to include Skip, Victoria, Keela, Kimberly, and Kola Stow, you became the middle of seven sisters and a bridge between the families. Later, Hoa, Minh, and Von became your beloved siblings. As a child, you demonstrated your love of adventure, your gift of storytelling, and your vivid imagination.

At OSU, you fell hard for handsome, gregarious Chad Boss. It was mutual. You were married in Tulsa on New Years' day in 1982, and you headed for Texas. But you later said that the timing was a miscalculation. With your birthday a week before Christmas and your anniversary a week after, Chad always gave you only one present.

As a young adult, you personally surrendered your life to Christ, fully and deeply, and the focus of your life became studying His word and following his teachings.

Jacob, Jordan, Jessemine, and Jarett arrived. You were a devoted wife and reveled in motherhood. You homeschooled your children, nurturing and drawing out the best in each of them and instilling values and character into their hearts. You and Chad helped to found NOAH, and were among its biggest supporters.

A natural organizer, you planned and lead NOAH trips to nationals, youth mission trips, ski trips, trips to the beach, mountains, and islands, and many vacations for the extended family. You learned from your Granni to be a marvelous cook. You have been relentlessly generous with your time and talents, volunteering at the John 3:16 Mission and the women's shelter, serving as a choir director, a youth leader, a Sunday School teacher, a mission trip leader, and always a cook. You have truly poured out your life in service to God and to people.

You have always loved Chad's family. When his mom, Granny, came to live with you, you became mom and daughter. You cherished each other.

In your spare time, you were a carpenter, a seamstress, a runner, a baker, a mentor.

As proud as you are of your kids and their life-mates, Jacob and Elisabeth, Jessemine and Samuel, Jordan and Nicole, Jarett and--well, he's still working on it--the arrival of your grandchildren was pure bliss. As Nona, you showered love on Skye, Andrew, Zaccai, Zadok, Phillip, Oliver, Zerahiah, and Sadie.

Through life's storms, including being diagnosed with cancer and then losing Chad, we will never forget how you were sustained by faith in God's purpose and His grace. You poured your heart and talent into your beautiful blog, "Tales that are Told." You loved and supported us.

And you fought like a warrior. We watched your faith deepen. You told us that gratefulness is the ultimate antidote, and you shared truths about power in suffering, fulfillment in obedience, the faithfulness and grace of God.

You flew into the arms of Jesus in the early hours of Sunday, October 23, 2016. We were there, holding your hands, singing and praying and telling you how much we love you. We spoke aloud words that describe you--words like tenacious, loving, intelligent, beautiful, competitive, writer, disciplined, Italian wannabe, determined, witty, athlete, compassionate, photographer, lover of history, perpetually late, giving, humble, constant, fierce, fearless--and then we let you go.

We will dearly miss your physical presence, your encouragement, your wisdom, your beautiful blue eyes. But you have invested so much of yourself in our lives, and especially the lives of your children, that you will be with us always.

And our hope is sure: we will see you again.

With all our love forever,
Your Grateful Family

For the rest of her story visit www.talesthataretold.com




Visitation: 6:00-8:00 P.M., Friday, October 28, 2016
Moore's Eastlawn Chapel
Service: 10:00 A.M., Saturday, October 29, 2016
Eastwood Baptist Church
Interment: Memorial Park Cemetery

Moore's Eastlawn Chapel
918-622-1155