Ward Graff Freitag Obituary (1927

Ward Graff Freitag, 91, of Stanford passed away peacefully with family by his side at 5:52pm on Monday, February 11, 2019 at Advocate Bromenn in Normal. Most recently he resided at Westminster Village, Bloomington, IL. There will be a graveside memorial service with military rites for family and friends at a later date. Calvert & Metzler Memorial Home in Bloomington is handling arrangements. Memorials may be directed to Community Cancer Center, Normal, IL or Alzheimer's Disease Research in Maryland. Ward was born in Bloomington on August 9, 1927 to Carl and Myrtle Graff Freitag. He married Kathleen P. Evers on August 10, 1948 in Bloomington. She preceded him in death May 21, 2004. He was also preceded in death by his parents, one sister Carleen Brenneman and a son William Carl. Ward is survived by his six children, Colleen (Darrel) Oehler of Bloomington, Kaye (Gary) Gwin of Bloomington, Jane (Dave) Kruger of Bloomington, Doug (June Stoyer) Freitag of Brookeville, Maryland, John (Amy) Freitag of Danvers, and Scott Freitag of Stanford as well as twelve grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren. In 1944 he enlisted in the army at the age of 17. He was stationed in Germany, serving in the 97th Signal Battalion 3rd Army motor pool. He was a member of American Legion Post 635 in Normal, IL. Upon his return home from the Army he married Kathleen. They had seven children and farmed the Freitag family farm in Stanford. At the age of 31 he received the McLean County 'Outstanding Young Farmer' award. He hosted many groups from various countries showing them his automated silage cattle feeding system and hog farrowing facility. He was a visionary in terms of farm operations. He was always pursuing ways to improve farming efficiencies and was selected by many implement manufacturers to test their latest tillage innovations. In 1970 he was chosen to host the M&W Farm Power Show. He loved his community and was very civic minded and served on the Stanford Fire Dept, Stanford Community School Board and Stanford State Bank Board. He belonged to the Masonic Comet Lodge 641, Minier, IL. Upon retirement he spent his remaining years residing in Tempe, Arizona. He loved the southwest and became friends with many of the Native American artists and enjoyed collecting their pottery, rugs, jewelry and carved kachina dolls. Ward was known for always wearing one of his hand-woven vest and his bolo ties. Ward was a hard-working father who gave his children a great life filled with lots of wonderful memories of living on the farm, annual trips to the Ozarks and a ski trip to Colorado. He loved being with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and will be missed by all. We will always remember his hearty laugh. He was always there to help his family and friends. We were all blessed to have him in our lives.