Beatrice Irene Freund

A celebration of the life of Beatrice Irene Freund will be held on October 9, 2021, from 1:00-3:00 P.M. at the Harry H Witzke’s Family Funeral Home, 4112 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City, MD. Irene was at the shore at her favorite ocean resort with her favorite traveling companion when she was called home on September 1, 2021.

Irene was born on December 30th, 1931 in Bridgeport, Connecticut to John and Lucy Kriksconaitis. Her early years were influenced by the depression and the war. While times were tough, she had nothing but fond memories of her adventures with her beloved older brother John and the love, hard work and ingenuity of her Lithuanian parents.

In July 1962, she married Rudolf E. Freund. Rudy happened to be boarding across the street from her home in Bridgeport, Connecticut when the first met. She found Rudy intriguing with his Jeep and European charm. They had 55 years of marriage until his death in 2017. Together they raised two children: Matt and Kathy. The family moved to Maryland in 1969. Irene remained extremely devoted to her parents and her brother and his family and would frequently drive to Bridgeport. The highlights were always centered around family, Seaside Park and enjoyable times on the water. Irene also developed close relationships with her sisters-in-law (Clare Freund and Ursula Goebel) and visited them often. She took tremendous enjoyment in visiting and traveling with them.

In the 1970’s, Irene went back to school at Howard Community College and obtained her Associate’s Degree. Irene worked for most of her life and had many jobs in both Connecticut and Maryland. The highlight was a 30-year career at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. She enjoyed the work, the people, and the financial independence it provided her. She retired from JHU APL at 74 years young.

Irene loved to travel and visited numerous countries including the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, Bermuda and Canada. On one of her first trips after high school, she traveled to Europe with a girlfriend on an unpressurized cargo plane that never got over 10,000 feet. She even traveled with her brother on a cruise on the QE2. She also enjoyed travelling within the United States including trips to Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, Hawaii, California, Nevada, Texas, and uncounted trips to the Southern tip of New Jersey. She and her daughter only missed their annual August vacation to Cape May, New Jersey once in the past 30 years and it took a pandemic to keep them away.

Irene had several health scares relatively early in life. She had cancer in her mid 50’s and would be bothered by complications from the treatment for much of her remaining life. Irene was a fighter, and never considered giving up even though visiting doctors seemed to become her second career. However, she never let it stop her from vacations, plays at the Olney Theatre Center, Concerts, craft fairs, herb festivals or dining out on the town.

As the pandemic took over, she took great comfort in her house and yard, feeding the birds, eating takeout instead of dining out on the town, enjoying the view from her back porch and watching her favorite PBS mysteries (she often tormented her son by asking him to watch repeats of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple and Mid-Sommer Murders) and talking about her grandsons.  She also discovered podcasts and would often fall asleep listening to the Nero Wolfe or the Jack Benny Shows.

She is survived by her two children Matt Freund (Lisa) of LaGrange, IL and Kathy Freund of Germantown, MD. She is also survived by three grandsons: David, Jeremy and Jacob. She had many much-loved nephews and nieces including John (Lynda), Tom (Connie), Joe (Denise), Patrick (Lowell), David (Mary), Kathy, Peter, Peter (Cathie), and Ann (Bill).

A visitation will be held on October 9 at 1 p.m. followed by a service at 2 p.m. at the Harry H Witzke’s Family Funeral Home at 4112 Old Columbia Pike in Ellicott City.

To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Beatrice Irene Freund, please visit our Tree Store.