Bonnie Cleo Freeman

                                                                                     “BECAUSE GOD SAID SO”

Bonnie Cleo (Martin) Freeman, of Mexia, ended her earthly journey at her home while surrounded by her family, and went home to be with Jesus, on Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at age 67.

Visitation will be held from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 11, 2026, in the Groesbeck Funeral Home Chapel.

Graveside services will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 12, 2026, at Dew Cemetery (SW corner of FM 75 and FM 489 -Freestone County), with Pastor Randy Ayres officiating.

Honorary pallbearers will be Paul Freeman, Ronald Freeman, Todd Freeman, Ronnie Ellison, Jarod Duffield, Brad Scott, Gary Turner, Mark Martin, Dale Martin, and Michael Kinder.

Cleo was born on August 21, 1958, in Mesquite, TX, to James and Bonnie Louise (Harsin) Martin. She grew up in Mesquite until the family moved to Buffalo while she was a teenager. She graduated from Buffalo High School in the Class of 1976.

Cleo was united in marriage with Marion Douglas “Doug” Freeman on February 4, 1977, in the Forest Glade Baptist Church. When asked why, she said “Because God Said So!” This was her belief so much so that when they built a house together, she included a prayer room, which was 10% of the entire house, and the whole room was dedicated to the Lord. She always said that if anyone ever looted their house, she hoped they would find in this room what they needed to lead them to the Lord.

Doug and Cleo lived in Mexia where they raised their family, except for ten years they spent back in Buffalo while she took care of her parents.

Cleo was a “stay-at-home” wife and mother whose life revolved around her church, home and family. She molded every part of her life around what God told her to do. Cleo homeschooled her children, although some attended some school years in Groesbeck. She created a drug problem for them – but the good kind - because she “drug them to church.” The family were members of Groesbeck Christian Fellowship and later the Word of Life Family Worship Center. She was very dedicated and always helping with clean-up or any way she could serve. The kids were “volun-told” what they were going to volunteer to do to also help serve in the church. Her every focus was in making sure her family was right with God.

Anytime she wasn’t working for her family or the church, she kept busy with her hands in making beautiful things, whether cross stitching, quilting, or her newer enjoyment of “diamond painting.” She enjoyed local dog shows with her beloved English Bulldogs, Dottie and Tater, but after they died she did not feel any new pets could take their place.

Cleo was known to her family as extremely talkative; she could talk even to herself if no one else was listening. Her kids said if her eyes were open, she was talking, and could talk to the electric plug, as the kids said, for “an electrifying conversation.” She had no problem in telling anyone what she thought and could be a “crusty crabb.” No one better not mess with her family. She knew when to boss around or when to pamper, and was actually very caring and loving, and had extraordinary patience. She could not stand to see anyone hurt or in need. It was always about what God told her to do.

Cleo was preceded in death by her parents and a baby sister.

She is survived by her husband, Marion Douglas Freeman of Mexia; daughter, Kristi Freeman and grandson, Micah Freeman of Mexia; son and daughter-in-law, Brad and Leeann Freeman and granddaughter, Emerson Freeman of Mexia; and son, Clay Freeman of Mexia.

She is also survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Jamie and Michael Kinder and their daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Brandon Talley and their children, and their son and daughter-in-law, James and Ginney Kinder and their children, all of North Carolina.

Who was Cleo? She was a woman who relentlessly pursued the face of God and wanted everyone to have the same passion about God as she had. If she could speak to you in person, she would say “Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. So choose you this day who you will serve.!”