Rita "Emma" Freeman

Rita Schneeweis Freeman, affectionately known as Emma, 92, passed after a brief illness on May 14, 2021.

She was predeceased by her husband, Richard Freeman, her older brother, Basil Schneeweis and his wife Phyllis, brother-in-law Martin Freeman and his wife Helaine, and son-in-law Douglas Moore. She is survived by her two daughters, Jane Freeman Moore of Hopewell Junction, and Susan and her husband Stanley Heifetz of Bedford Hills, as well as her beloved grandchildren, Michael Heifetz and his fiancée Lauren Dezenski, and Danny Heifetz.

Rita was born in Newburgh, New York on June 5, 1928, to Abraham and Ethel Solow Schneeweis. She attended Newburgh Free Academy and graduated from New York University with a major in Government in 1950. Rita married Richard Freeman, a second lieutenant in the United States Army Air Corps, at The Essex House in Manhattan on October 28, 1951. They were married for 50 years.

Rita, an independent-minded woman, often zigged when others zagged. In an era when being a stay-at-home wife was the norm, she worked alongside her husband at J. Arnold Wood Company, the family jewelry store in Poughkeepsie, and later as a real estate agent for many years.

She was a lifelong sports fan. As a child, her older brother, Basil, paid her a nickel a day to record the box scores for the Yankees while she listened on the radio. Rita was a prodigious swimmer and basketball player in her youth, an avid tennis player and golfer in adulthood, and an obsessive Giants and Yankees fan well into old age. In her later years Rita took pride in re-learning Yiddish, the language she often heard at home in her childhood.

The family will be holding a private service.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to The Yiddish Book Center, a nonprofit organization working to regenerate Yiddish and modern Jewish culture. Donations may be made at Yiddishbookcenter.org or sent to 1021 West Street, Amherst, MA 01002.