Appalachian Figures
Glenn Richard Freeman grew up in Harlan County’s Tri-Cities and spent a lifetime pinballing between printing ink, factory floors, and the statehouse. A son of Cumberland and of a newspaper family, he became a local publisher, a hosiery executive, and a lawmaker whose committee room work focused on jobs and development in Eastern Kentucky. He died on June 7, 2014, at his home in Corbin at age 80.
Cumberland roots and a family newspaper
Freeman’s parents were J. Pier “J. P.” Freeman and Margaret Glenn Brownrigg Freeman. The family owned and operated the Tri-City News in Cumberland, a weekly that began in 1929 and served the coal camps of Cumberland, Benham, and Lynch. The University of Kentucky’s microfilm catalog records the paper’s 1962 masthead listing “Margaret G. Freeman, Editor, and Publisher,” with a note that the News was “established 1929 by J. P. Freeman.”
Margaret Glenn Freeman’s role at the paper and her standing in the community were noted when she died in 1984. United Press International reported that she was a “retired editor and publisher of the Tri-City News at Cumberland.” That wire obituary offers a contemporary confirmation of the family’s newspaper enterprise in the Tri-Cities.
Army service, education, and early career
According to his death notice, Freeman graduated from Cumberland High School, served in the United States Army at Fort Hood from 1953 to 1955, and then attended Cumberland College, Western Kentucky University, and the University of Kentucky. After college and following his father’s death, he returned home to help operate the family businesses, the Tri-City News and Tri-City Motor Company.
Project Vote Smart’s nonpartisan biography corroborates his education and early public service details, listing attendance at Cumberland College, Western Kentucky University, and the University of Kentucky, and noting his move into politics soon after.
A manufacturer in the 1990s
Beyond newspapers, Freeman helped organize Bluegrass Hosiery, Inc., a mid-1990s knitwear venture. A federal appellate record in Bluegrass Hosiery, Inc. v. Speizman Industries, Inc. identifies Freeman as the company’s president, placing him at the center of the firm’s management during a dispute over equipment. Federal court opinions function as primary records and confirm his title.
Frankfort years
Freeman served in the Kentucky House of Representatives twice in the 1970s, then won a Democratic primary in 1996 to represent the 17th Senate District centered in the mountains. Vote Smart lists his House service in 1970–71 and 1974–77. The district history shows that he was elected in 1996 and served in the Senate from January 1, 1997 to January 1, 2001. Daniel Mongiardo succeeded him after the 2000 election.
During the 1996–97 interim, the Legislative Research Commission named Senator Glenn Freeman co-chair of the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism. The LRC’s official bulletin for that interim lists him by name, and a follow-on bulletin for 1998–99 again shows him as co-chair. These committee assignments map to his public focus on jobs, industry, and tourism in the mountain counties.
Freeman’s name also appears throughout the 1997 Special Session sponsor index for the Senate, a contemporaneous LRC list that catalogs who carried what items that summer. It records his sponsorship across numerous Senate resolutions.
In the 1998 Regular Session, LRC bill files show him as sponsor of measures including SB 223 (city utility deposit requirements) and SB 232 (local authority changes described in the fiscal note). The LRC’s own “LM” and “FN” sheets cite “Sen. Glenn Freeman” or “Senator Glenn Freeman” in the sponsor line.
When audits followed the money
In 2000, the Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts issued a special examination of Bluegrass Hosiery. The report described how county funds became entangled with bank loans associated with Freeman and businesses connected to the hosiery venture. As a state document, the audit stands as a primary government source on the financing questions that shadowed the project.
Placed beside the later federal appellate opinion that simply identifies Freeman’s corporate role, these records outline both sides of the public paper trail: an entrepreneur trying to stand up a factory in a coalfield county and auditors questioning how local development money underwrote private credit.
Oral history and community colleges
The Louie B. Nunn Center’s catalog includes an interview titled “Interview with Glenn Freeman,” recorded December 6, 2006, in its Community Colleges of Kentucky project. While the recording is part of a broader series, the listing confirms that Freeman contributed to the state’s oral history of higher education and community development in the region.
Final years and remembrance
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported his death on June 9, 2014, noting that the former Eastern Kentucky lawmaker died at home at age 80. His funeral home obituary adds service details and burial at Cumberland Memorial Gardens near Lily, Kentucky. For family, the obituary names his wife Nila Bright Freeman and their children and grandchildren, and it remembers his travel and sports enthusiasms. Obituaries are family-supplied notices, and in this case they also preserve local institutional memory about a lifetime spent straddling newspaper work, manufacturing, and public office.
Why Glenn Freeman matters
Freeman’s biography reads like an Appalachian civics lesson. A hometown weekly on Main Street. A mid-1990s factory gamble that tried to capture manufacturing jobs for Harlan County. A committee room in Frankfort where a mountain senator co-chaired the panel on economic development and tourism. Whatever one thinks of the hosiery saga or of his politics, the documentary record shows a Cumberland figure who kept trying to link local enterprise to regional opportunity.
Sources and further reading
Hart Funeral Home obituary and service details for Glenn Richard Freeman. Obituary lists birth in Cumberland on July 17, 1933, Army service at Fort Hood, and burial plans. hartfhcorbin.com
Lexington Herald-Leader news report on Freeman’s death at age 80, published June 9, 2014. Kentucky
University of Kentucky Microfilm Holdings, Tri-City News (Cumberland) masthead listing “Margaret G. Freeman, Editor, and Publisher,” with founding note for J. P. Freeman. ukmfilms.omeka.net
UPI wire obituary for Margaret Glenn Freeman, identifying her as retired editor and publisher of the Tri-City News. UPI
U.S. Court of Appeals opinion, Bluegrass Hosiery, Inc. v. Speizman Industries, Inc., naming Glenn Freeman as company president.
Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts, Special Examination of Bluegrass Hosiery, Inc. (Oct. 3, 2000). State audit describing public funds and bank loans tied to the venture. auditor.ky.gov
Legislative Research Commission, Final Reports of the Interim Joint, Special, and Statutory Committees, 1996–97 and 1998–99, listing Senator Glenn Freeman as co-chair of the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development and Tourism. legislature.ky.gov+1
LRC, 1997 Special Session “Bills & Amendments by Sponsor – Senate,” indexing Freeman across multiple SR items. Legislative Research Commission
LRC bill files, 1998 Regular Session, SB 223 (LM and FN) and SB 232 (FN) showing Sen. Glenn Freeman as sponsor. Legislative Research Commission+1
Kentucky Oral History listings, Louie B. Nunn Center and Kentucky Oral History Commission: “Interview with Glenn Freeman,” Dec. 6, 2006. kentuckyoralhistory.org+1
Project Vote Smart biography for Glenn R. Freeman, including education and House service. Vote Smart
Kentucky’s 17th Senate District page summarizing Freeman’s 1997–2001 term and succession by Daniel Mongiardo. Wikipedia