The Santa Barbara theater community lost one of its giants when Pope Freeman passed away on October 31 due to the devastating effects of Parkinson’s disease. Pope, with his wife, Jan, by his side, had battled the disease for two decades. Like most things in their lives, they fought as a team. When Pope died peacefully at home, he was surrounded by his dearest ones: his wife, his stepdaughter, and his two children and granddaughter who had come from their homes in Europe to be with him. His oldest daughter, Meg, told me that Pope “always brought people together.”
I met Pope in 1972. I was a 24-year-old English teacher, and I had just been given the assignment to teach Theater Arts at La Colina Junior High, but I had never been in an acting class or performed in a play. I had a lot to learn, and I had to learn it fast.
Then came one of the luckiest nights of my life.
