Christopher Freeman, middle school math teacher, has died
February 7, 2020
Christopher Freeman, a Lab middle school math teacher, died this morning after an extended illness. Mr. Freeman had not been at school teaching for the 2019-20 school year.
Mr. Freeman began teaching at Lab in 1994 and was a parent of a U-High senior and two Lab alumni.
The high school counseling office will be available all day for student, staff and faculty support. A banner is available to leave a message of support. Faculty has been instructed to be understanding if students are unable to attend class.
Mr. Freeman earned a Bachelor of Arts in math and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Chicago. He coached the middle school math teams. During summers and after school, he led enrichment activities in math and historical games, notably about World War II.
He authored three books: “Nim: Variations and Strategies,” “Drawing Stars and Building Polyhedra” and “Hands-On Geometry: Constructions with Straightedge and Compass.”
No information about funeral arrangements has been provided.
This story will be updated as details become available.
SuzyQ • Apr 1, 2020 at 2:52 pm
Condolences to the Freeman family on the loss of Chris. Although I did not know him personally, I know he was very important to his late half-sister Joan, who was my second cousin. May their memories be for a blessing. If “Meris” reads this, she may get in touch with me about Joan.
Rosemary Ginko • Mar 13, 2020 at 2:17 am
I worked with Mr. Freeman many years ago in the gifted enrichment programs through the World of Wisdom and Wonder’s Program. We both taught math and it was inspiring and uplifting to work with and learn different approaches to math from him. He was a very kind and giving person. His presence will be missed. My condolences to Chris’s wife and children.
Meris • Feb 22, 2020 at 2:41 pm
I first met Christopher when he was a young boy., through his sister, Joan Freeman, who has been a close friend for 50 years. We were both students at Oberlin College. Christopher was a very nice person and very talented in music. I send love to Joan and Chris’s family. And have a request: I lost contact with Joan last year and wonder whether someone in the family could put me back in touch with her. Thank you.
Vivi • Feb 22, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Mr Freeman was my math teacher and advisor 6 years ago. He was one of the teachers from lab middle school I have the best memories with- he welcomed all of us nervous sixth graders into the middle school, always making sure to be comforting to us. I struggled with math so much, and he helped me so much that I ended up going from barely passing to loving his class. He came to our middle school plays, and his contagious laughter always spread through the audience. He helped me with issues I had at the time in other classes, and helped me learn to be an advocate for myself. I remember’ despite him being a math teacher, he always taught us about and loved history with a passion. He took us to jackson park to play, taught us to draw stars, and was kind and understanding to all of us. My heart broke when I found out he had died- my middle school time would have been awful without him. I miss him so much, and am sending love to the entire freeman family❤
Claire Milsted • Feb 18, 2020 at 11:29 pm
Mr. Freeman was my adviser and math teacher grade. He was also a faculty adviser for math team and math counts, taught me and some of my classes how to play bridge during our free periods, and encouraged me to take some summer classes in Wilmette, where he taught classes on game theory, geometry, and strategy board games. He was so kind, outgoing, and full of energy about math. He was also very patient with us and answered all of our questions, even ones that were wildly off-topic.
He would start class with a quote and often point out if there was anything numerically interesting about the date. He showed us how to draw stars with any number of points and I still doodle these kind of stars during boring meetings. He also had an extremely methodical way of erasing the board which was very endearing and I think about it when I have to do a lot of board-erasing.
Jeffrey Chen • Feb 12, 2020 at 10:35 pm
As I was walking to science class this past Friday, a classmate told me the news. At first, I felt numb, not willing to believe that Mr. Freeman had died. This soon turned into grief and sadness. Mr. Freeman was a role model to me, and to see that he was gone just destroyed me. Mr. Freeman was one of the most wonderful teachers I’ve ever had, and I would like to cherish those good memories that we’ve created together.
I came to Lab in 6th grade and was persuaded by a fellow classmate to join the Mathcounts club at school. I did not have much of an experience solving math problems or participating in math competitions back then and I didn’t care much about the subject in general. Fast forward to 8th grade, and I had an insatiable desire to solve math problems, clearly contrasting with the attitude that I possessed 3 years ago. It was all thanks to the help and support of Mr. Freeman.
Every single Mathcounts club meeting, Mr. Freeman would give us problems to do. He made sure to explain every single problem until every single person in the entire room understood. Mr. Freeman would often talk about historical math figures and interesting topics related to certain problems, building up each of our interests in this subject. After school on Wednesdays Mr. Freeman would invite high school mathletes who would give lectures detailing advanced topics in mathematics. These topics allowed me to think deeply, something that I had not done before coming to Lab. Intrigued, I began to practice problems from these topics, often relating to Number Theory or Combinatorics.
Every single day of the chapter competition, Mr. Freeman would bring his Mobius strip scarf and his Klein bottle hat. Then he would explain to us how each of these objects only had one face in the way that they were designed. He also taught us how to play Krypto, a game like 24, and us mathletes would often play it to warm up our minds. Mr. Freeman sometimes told us stories of his childhood, both in the Mathcounts club and in Geometry class. He was very passionate about sharing his experiences with the class.
Mr. Freeman loved to solve hard problems, and he instilled that joy with us kids. As he said in an interview, “What’s important to me about Mathcounts is the practice sessions. It’s learning how to solve the hard problems. Coming to a competition is sort of the icing on the cake. Figuring them out is really fun”. Every single problem was a burst of joy for Mr. Freeman, figuring out the correct solution was, as many other mathletes put it, fun. Personally, I have come to realize how fun it is to solve these questions, the satisfaction of knowing that you’ve figured it out can oftentimes be the best part of my day. Mr. Freeman would often supply me with a cache of hard problems, giving me an opportunity to improve and sharpen my knowledge. One problem always stuck out to me. As with most problems that Mr. Freeman gave, there was a story. He told me how a relative of his gave this problem to him, and how difficult it was for him to solve it. This problem states: Given 13 coins, with one that weighs different from the rest of them, and a scale, which can be used at most 3 times, how can you determine the counterfeit one?
Throughout my middle school years, I have been strongly influenced by Mr. Freeman’s kindness, along with his dedication to mathematics. He has helped many students throughout his years teaching at Lab, and I certainly would not have loved math as I do now if not for his help. I am truly grateful for meeting Mr. Freeman in my middle school years. He will be loved and remembered forever.
Catie Bell • Feb 9, 2020 at 9:56 pm
As a colleague, Chris made me think. Possessed with a lesser mind, I struggled to round the corner, so I could climb to the next ledge, where, Chris patiently waited for me. In the trickiest situations, he had a knack for uncovering relevant, but underlying, tensions. Given his generous spirit, Chris helped me to see these circumstances more clearly, one of the ways he encouraged us to climb higher. Chris regularly sent teachers the kind of students who inspire classes with trenchant observations and enduring questions. His own children, as we often point out, continue to be amazing, hard-working individuals and valuable members of whatever community they join. This is consistent with the way Chris and Maria found time to show up for modest, but still significant, English class performances. As a couple, they invited us, both teachers and students, to appreciate our work more joyfully. I continue to miss Chris Freeman, a true teacher and an outstanding human being, and give my love to his family.
Wayne Brasler • Feb 9, 2020 at 4:26 pm
Chris was just a wonderful guy. He had a big heart and was people-oriented. As a teacher he was everything a teacher should be. His caring and loyal to the Lab Schools was well-known.
He also, like everything worthwhile as an educator, was an original
Steven Glick • Feb 8, 2020 at 8:32 am
Mr. Freeman was my teacher in sixth grade, eighth grade, and throughout middle school on the math team. I used to sign up for his activity periods every week–he taught me how to draw stars with as many points as I wanted, how to play the Empire Builder railroad game, and how to build a rhombicosidodecahedron. He was my cabin’s teacher during sixth grade camp and he showed us how to create sparks by eating LifeSavers at night and told us the best bedtime stories before we went to sleep. In the classroom, he had a contagious enthusiasm for math and made me truly believe that I could solve any problem if I just took the time to understand it. Whenever I talked to him–whether about math, history, or anything else–I always wound up learning something new and interesting. Mr. Freeman was a brilliant and kind-hearted man who was such an important role model and source of inspiration to countless students like me. Rest in peace.
Joe Klonowski • Feb 7, 2020 at 5:38 pm
Mr. Freeman was one of my math team coaches in middle school. I never had him for class but he was one of my and my brother’s favorite teachers ever.
He was a good coach for me because he helped me get top 10 at math team state in 8th grade. But he was a great coach, and a great teacher, because of everything he taught us outside of math. He taught us history. He taught us to love learning. He taught us to love nerdy-ass board games. He taught us how to teach and coach others.
One of those teachers for whom my brother and I will be forever grateful to Lab.
Much love to Mr. Freeman and to his family. RIP.
–Joe Klonowski, UHigh 2010