VALERIE JOAN FREED

March 4, 1937 - June 8, 2018

Valerie Joan Freed passed away on Friday, June 8, 2018. Funeral Services will be at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at the Louis Memorial Chapel, 6830 Troost Ave., Kansas City, Mo., with burial immediately following at Rose Hill Cemetery, 6900 Troost Ave. Valerie was born in Atchison, Kan. on March 4, 1937. She grew up there, graduating from Atchison High School, where she was involved in over twenty school activities, and was the homecoming queen in 1955. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin. She settled in Overland Park, Kan. in 1961, where she devoted herself to raising her family and participated in numerous activities. She was an avid tennis player, loved the outdoors and gardening, taught water aerobics, volunteered to help children and mothers that were victims of domestic abuse, and worked with Russian immigrants. She was a personal shopper for many years at The Jones Store Co. in Metcalf South, and completed a marathon and a triathlon after she turned 50. She also was a wonderful artist who created beautiful paintings and clay sculptures. She loved to knit, especially for her family, and would sew into each piece a tag that said “made with love by Yaya.” She married Ronald Freed of St. Joseph, Mo. in 1958. Together they had three children: Randy, Amy and Julie. Amy passed away from Tay-Sachs disease just after she turned two years old in 1963. Valerie and Ronald divorced in 1987 but remained good friends until he died in 2014. She married Hoit Campbell, her best friend, in 1994, and they were happily together until his death in 2011. She and Hoit loved traveling, especially to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where they spent many winters and made many friends. Valerie was known for her loving spirit, vivacious personality, warm heart, infectious laugh and many lifelong friends. Everybody she knew adored her, and she will be greatly missed. Valerie was preceded in death by her daughter Amy, parents Rudolph and Dorothy Leibowitz, husband Hoit Campbell, ex-husband Ronald Freed and sister, Linda Leibowitz. She is survived by son and daughter-in-law Randy and Dini Freed of Overland Park; daughter Julie Freed of Ashland, Ore.; and granddaughters Arianna Marshank and Evie Freed. She also leaves sister and brother-in-law Bronna and Spencer Gerber of Leawood, Kan., and brother-in-law, Tony Pacheco of Prairie Village, Kan., as well as many close cousins and friends. The family suggests contributions to the National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association, 2001 Beacon Street, Ste. 204, Boston, Mass., 02135, or the Alzheimer’s Association Heart of America, 3846 West 75th St., Prairie Village, Kan. 66208.