I am glad to have had Bob for a brother.
Bob would take me to movies after my sister Marybeth died.
He also gave me a lot of bicentennial quarters when I was collecting them! 
Bob and Gloria would always treat me well when I would visit Grand Junction .  Thanks!
Thank you for the memories Bob!  
I believe I am better having known you!

My memories of Bob are of my big little brother. As the oldest child in our family, and the only girl for a long time, I was often given the role of keeping an eye on my younger siblings. Bob was always the cheerful, easygoing one. One of the last times I saw him in person was when Mom and I came to help out after he had a terrible bus accident that left him in a lot of pain. Through it all, he remained calm, thoughtful, and kept his sense of humor. After our Mom passed away, we siblings rarely saw each other - something we were planning to remedy with a reunion this May. Bob and I were working on plans for it - mostly discussing food - but I guess we put it off just a little too long. I wish we had gotten one more chance to see each other. Now we'll just have to wait until we meet again on the other side.

I had two best friends in junior high and high school, Roy Hanson and Bob Freier.  I had known Roy since first grade, and Bob since we had moved to our house in New Hope in 1969.  We lived just up the street from the Freiers from 1969 to 1974, and my brothers and I each had a Freier friend.  My brother John had Doug, my brother Jim had Joe, and I had Bob.  Living near Bob meant I saw a lot more of him than Roy during the summer,  but at school we all saw each other every day.  Roy was a star basketball player, and Bob was JV, but Bob excelled in a variety of sports, including track and field, and also played in the marching band during football season. 

I went to college with Roy, but after the Freier family moved to Denver I mostly lost contact with  Bob.  We did have a tradition of phoning the Freiers from the Denver airport if we ever happened to change planes there.   And we stopped and saw the Freiers on a drive down to Arizona in the fall of 1980, the last time I saw Bob.  So my memories of him are limited to a short span of years, but during those years he was a wonderful friend.  He would come to our house for board games, we played football in the yard at the Freier house, and Bob was also someone who could talk about the larger things.  He had a desire for religion in his life that I didn't share, but his explorations of faith were always interesting to follow and merited respect.

Most of us don't get many friends in our lives like Bob was to me then.  I've only had a few more like him since that time, and I don't expect that I will add any more.  I feel fortunate to have had the years  with Bob that I did.  He was a perfect friend, and I hope he remembered me that way as the years went by.

A memory I can share, I had my first taste of wine at a July birthday party for Bob, which I think was a spaghetti dinner in the Freier house dining room.  Mrs. Freier thought it wouldn't hurt anything if I tried some.   That was life then.

Bob Freier -- so much more than a brother
My musings and memories of  dear brother Bob: 

 Bob was the brother everyone should have --  level-headed,  calm,  knowledgeable.  The kind of wisdom that keeps us from getting into trouble. 
 We shared some interests in musical Tastes -- country, classical  and early 20th century tunes. 
Later on in life , while living in Grand Junction,  I remember him being more apt to be camping or out in nature--   whether up on Grand Mesa, or tending to the garden & chickens in the backyard, or out bicycling. Still the quiet, unassuming Bob I had known so many years before.    
This is how I like to remember him – kind,  gentle,  full of life. 

   God Bless You , Bob.   Enjoy the View !

Bob was a good big brother.  One early memory I have is of how he taught me to ride a bike.  In our back yard he showed me how to keep my balance on a rusty old bike with skinny tires.  A year or two later we would ride our bikes to Meadow Lake Elementary and hit pop ups to sharpen our out-fielding skills.  Dad was the coach of Bob and my baseball team once in grade school and again in Jr High.  Bob and I both needed glasses and wore the same exact frames. Being big and strong Bob was more of a power hitter, I was not.  I remember one time when he got up to bat some kid from the other team said “Oh no, it’s the Jolly Green Giant”.  Later when I stepped up to the plate someone said “Hey look, it’s the Little Green Giant”.  When I was in fourth grade I attended the track and field day event that took place in the spring at the school.  Chalk lines marked the grass for the various track races.  Bob was in 6th grade and was slated to run against all the fastest kids from the other classrooms in the 50-yard dash.  As the race started he bolted down his lane, tripped over a piece of foam rubber and tumbled to the ground.  He got back up and was able to finish the race … and take first place!
I always looked up to Bob because he was the best athlete of the Freier family.  He also excelled academically, always the “A” student.  If not for him I may never have played the game Risk, or Chess, or Three-Dimensional Chess.  Without him I probably would have not figured these games out.   Kite flying, rocket building, and salamander harvesting are all skills he mentored me in.  We also searched for agates together and brought them up to the mayor’s house to have them polished.  Bob also introduced me to the paper boy profession.  We shared the paper route for a while delivering by bicycle in the spring, summer, and fall.  In the winter we toted sleds laden with papers to deliver.  We also went door to door collecting the subscription fees and turned them in to our manager.

OBITUARY

Robert John Freier

July 27, 1957 – February 23, 2025

Callahan-Edfast Mortuary & Crematory

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