Joseph Albert Freeman, better known to all as Al… except to me he was…
my Dad
This is me with my dad on Martha’s Vineyard. Notice how with most dads he’s letting his daughter crawl all over him. And notice too what a great seat a dads lap is.
He was born in 1910 in Newark, NJ, one of 7 children. Some kids had ponies but in his neighborhood there was a man with a mule and for a nickel you could have your picture taken on it.
He left school in the 6th grade and took any kind of job he could get. One of his favorites was driving a candy delivery truck… the neighborhood kids loved him because if there was any candy left over in the truck at night he’d bring it home and hand it out to them.
After he and my mother got married my dad became a police officer in Newark. One of the memories of my dad is how handsome and proud he looked in his uniform. Part of his time in the police force he worked in the emergency squad, he loved helping people and was always good at it.
Proud Officer Freeman.
My dad, at 6’2 was literally and figuratively someone I looked up to.
His last job as a police officer was working in night court… when things would get slow he would sketch on computer cards… these are the only drawings of my dad’s that I have.
My mother grew up on Martha’s Vineyard and after his first trip to the Island my dad was hooked. Every summer my mom and I would head to MV the beginning of June and my dad would join us for the month of August. He seemed so happy and at home there… he did yard work, painted the house, cooked, read, went clamming and crabbing, relaxed, went to the beach… just simply enjoyed himself. After I came along I was always eager to help him… here we are admiring whatever it is we’ve done to the lawn !
My parents made their last trip together to the Vineyard in 1975. My dad went back to MV a couple of times after my mother died but of course it wasn’t the same. Funny thing is that every time I’m on Martha’s Vineyard I feel the closest to my dad and mom… I guess the spirit resides where it was the happiest.
I love this picture of my dad… movie star handsome, like he stepped out of a 1940’s movie… love the hat dad… <3
To my recollection there is only one time in my life that I spent Christmas on the Vineyard. I was probably around 5 or 6 and my mother and I went to MV to be with my godparents.
Little did she know when she set me down on this beach in Oak Bluffs for the first time in 1943 what an important and life defining moment it was. 
Here at State Beach in Oak Bluffs in the early evening one May is my daughter 
My daughter Patty and son-in-law Mike at Aquinnah.
The next generation appears. My grandchildren Tiffany and Tyler at Edgartown lighthouse in 1996 during their first trip to the Vineyard. It was the month of May, not swimming weather but good for collecting shells and rocks and seeing the ocean for the first time.
