Dorothy Freeman

Dorothy (Dotty) Freeman of Woodstock, New York died on January 19, 2026 in Kingston, New York. Born June 8, 1930 in Brooklyn NY to Nathan and Esther Feigelman. Predeceased by her only sibling Irving. Their family of four was part of a much larger extended close knit family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins in Brooklyn and Queens and they all spent time at their grandparents' farm/bungalow colony in Ellenville, NY.

Dotty was predeceased by her husband of 73 years, Roy Freeman, who she knew from her Brooklyn neighborhood; he was her brother's friend. They happened to be looking at a newspaper together one day and saw an ad for a Leonard Bernstein concert in Manhattan. They decided to go together as neighborhood friends and have been together ever since. While dating he asked her to go on the Coney Island parachute jump. She was terrified, but thought Roy wouldn't marry her if she didn't.

Dotty graduated from Lafayette High School at the age of 17 and enrolled in Brooklyn College. However, Roy proposed and she needed to go to Chicago where he was in Optometry School.

Dotty and Roy moved to Kingston, NY in the early 1960's and built a very full life there. In those years their family in Brooklyn and Queens felt that they had moved to the other end of the earth (how that thinking has changed in 2026).

Dotty was always busy. She played Mah Jong with the same friends for fifty years. They called themselves the blue eyed jokers. She and Roy were folk dancers at the Woodstock town hall for decades and had a close group of folk dancing friends. For years they hiked and biked in many countries and skied many mountains with five other couples who called themselves The Social Climbers.

Dotty was the sole school secretary at the Meagher Elementary School in Kingston for many years. She joked that she ran the place. For many years, retirees of Meagher met weekly for breakfast at Deisings in Kingston. Until recently, Dotty was there at the table each week with this very close group of special friends who have always supported each other.

Dotty always enjoyed working on multitudes of craft projects and spent many years knitting and quilting. She hosted friends who were quilters in her home; the scene was like a factory with many machines, irons, and chattering workers.

Despite all of the activities in her life, Dotty gave 100 percent to her daughters Rona, Sara and Felice. She never turned them down when they needed help in any way.

Her family is still mourning the loss of their beloved dad, grandpa, great grandpa Roy. Dotty will be missed forever and deeply by daughters and son in laws Rona (Sam), Sara, and Felice (Harold), grandchildren Eli, Nathan (Sally), Selina (Aaron), Moses (Annie), Ariel (Hannah), Rachel (Dennis), Rebecca, Rio, and Jake (Mia). She adored her ten great grandchildren Lily, Ruben, Breslin, Rocio, Dory, Amara, Campbell, Senen, Franny, and Mirlo.

If so inclined, pour yourself a little glass of Manischewitz Concord Grape and make a toast to Dotty's well lived life.

The funeral will be on Friday, January 23 at 11am at Keyser Carr Simpson Hammerl Funeral Home in Kingston with a burial following at Montrepose Cemetery in Kingston.

The family will be observing Shiva at Dotty's home on Sunday, January 25 from 2pm to 5pm (service at 4pm) and on Monday January 26 from 4pm to 7pm (service at 6pm).

In lieu of flowers, donations in Dotty's memory can be made to Hudson Valley Hospice (hvhospice.org) or Woodstock Jewish Congregation (wjcshul.org).