Celebrating Sherry Freese: A Legacy of Dedication

Story written by Norm Bower

“Get involved,” is the advice and admonition from Sherry Freese, an energetic and enthusiastic (soon-to-be-retired) member of the Davenport Schools Foundation Board. At age 91, Sherry has had an affiliation with Davenport Schools over many decades, starting in 1957 as a newly minted teacher of journalism and English. Her undergrad degree from the University of Colorado trained her in writing and education. Her father had served as a superintendent of schools for a while, so schools were important in her family for many years.

In the first three years of teaching at Davenport High School, Sherry Kilpatrick loved being part of one of biggest high schools in the Midwest, and she served as faculty advisor for the newspaper and yearbook staffs. In 1960 she met the new baseball coach and social studies teacher named Bill Freese. After they married and had children, she stopped teaching but the family connection to Davenport Schools still grew as both daughters graduated from Central and Bill had an epic coaching career, winning four state baseball titles, and having the high school baseball field named in his honor in June 2023. He passed away in December 2023 and there is a DSF scholarship named in his honor.

Sherry worked as a travel editor for AAA for many years and she loved the adventures and the interesting people. As a way of giving back to the community, she took a seat on the board of the Davenport Schools Foundation in 1996, as the foundation looked to enrich student programming and organize a formal scholarship program for graduating seniors. Sherry served on the DSF Scholarship Committee for almost 30 years, and was chair until 2023. “It was always a pleasure to interview students for scholarships,” she said, “and the future always looks so bright!”  She especially recalls the good working relationship she had with committee co-chair Manny Fritz, who taught at CHS. “We worked with the cream of the crop, year after year,” she said.

Nowadays Sherry enjoys travel and her church and community. Her adult daughters live in Wisconsin and North Carolina and she loves visiting them. One is a pharmaceutical global manager and the other is a teacher, extending the “teaching gene” into yet another generation. “Being connected to schools and DSF has been so personally enriching, and lots of fun,” she said. She hopes for the best for the growing DSF programs and says she is proud of her tenure. “I hope to see more publicity and visibility for the Foundation, so people know the good we do all year,” she said. “And it would be great to see people from a variety of neighborhoods on the DSF board to better reflect our whole community.”

“I will remain busy with neighbors and friends and family, of course, but it’s time for me to step away from the board duties,” she added. “It’s good