Freeda Guthrie, 84, of Greenfield

Family Visitation: The family will greet friends on Sunday, February 8, 2026, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Cornerstone Fellowship in Greenfield.

Graveside Services: Private family graveside services will be held. The Lamb Funeral Home in Greenfield is in charge of the professional arrangements. Online condolences may be left to the family at www.lambfuneralhomes.com.

Memorials: May be directed to the family.

Freeda Marion Pittman was the first born child to Emit Talbot Pittman and Hannah Margaret Simpson on June 4th, 1941in Moab Utah. In 1941 Moab was a very small community and the Pittman family stood out for a significant reason. Hannah worked at the local hospital, gave the shots, delivered the babies, and worked with community doctor, I.W. Allen when he wasn’t visiting the neighboring communities. She was the medical person you went to in Moab. She eventually claimed the title of county nurse. Moab started growing a short time later when uranium was discovered in the area. Her husband, Emit, trapped beavers and tanned their skins which was a profitable business until the Russians started importing them to the US. After that, he went to work in the uranium mills that came through town when the US started developing the nuclear technology of the 1950s. Uranium dust blew through the air when the mills came in town and everyone got to breathe it. The nuclear tests were only 70miles from Moab. It wouldn’t be until many years later that the federal government would admit that the uranium dust and nuclear test fallouts were the cause of many cancers that began to appear in the population of these communities. The community of Moab Utah would be officially recognized as the “down winders” many years later.

Freeda was a responsible young lady early on. When she was only 9 years old, she was asked to house sit for the neighbors while she took care of her younger siblings. Her brother Evert was born in Aug 27th of 1942. Loeta was born April 17th of 1944. Carmen was born January 3rd of 1947. Emit Jr. came along on April 30th of 1950 and then Margaret came Sept 16th in 1952. The family tree was full. As a child, Freeda enjoyed float trips down the Colorado river with her friends and family. The local street fun in those years was “kick the can” down the streets. Polio was rampant during those days and swimming in the local creek was often blamed for catching it. Many children started to contract this virus in the town. Evert caught polio when he was 11 and became extremely sick. Hannah took him to Dr. Temple for treatment. The second day Evert was worse. On the 3rd day Evert was paralyzed from the waist down. Daddy Emit had to take Evert to Salt Lake City hospital. The polio viral attack had moved up his spine and the doctors said he would die, but by prayer and divine intervention Evert was delivered from it. On the 8th day, Evert was able to walk as if nothing happened. Everyone knew it was a miracle from God.

Freeda and Evert always went deer hunting with their dad, Emit, every year. The younger siblings would take on this task when they got older. This was how the family earned their meat each year. All the Pittman clan would learn to tote a shot gun and field dress 6 deer every year. The preference was to thin slice it, bread it, flour it, salt and pepper it, and fry it… and it was really good!

Some neighbors to the Pittman clan once strung a rope between their homes so they could talk through cans to each other. Freeda once wanted to climb in her brother Evert and his friend’s club house box strung between two trees. As she tried to climb the latter, the house box came down with the rope and she broke her arm. This may be the reason her future children were not permitted by her to climb trees. Her best friend growing up was Joan Provancha and Freeda would keep her friendship with Joan until the very end.

When Freeda was 17 she was crowned “Miss Uraniun Queen” in Moab for Grand County. She also took a job as a life guard at the local swim hole. After high school, the family built a garage on the property next their home that they also owned. This building became the Spudnut Donut shop that Freeda worked at with her dad as a teenager. A year later, the Miller Supermaket in town moved into a new facility on the main highway in Moab and they asked Emit to open the donut shop in their new store. Freeda worked in the new location for a short season and then decided to pursue university studies at the University of Utah in Salt Lake. She always loved chemistry and was interested in the medical field, but that didn’t last past 2 semesters.

Freeda had her wits about her, especially as a young lady. Salt Lake City is a strong Mormon community and is known as the headquarters of the Mormon church. Most people in the city were assumed to be a Mormon then. In Mormon theology people are assigned to a “ward” (a designated service time) based on their living quarters, etc. The Mormon “church house”, a place of worship, was used all day long and as a Mormon you were assigned to a ward. While at the University of Salt Lake, Freeda was working as a waitress at a restaurant in Temple Square and needed to get some change out of her tip dollars. She had to go to Zion Bank (owned by the Mormons) and was asked by the teller what denomination Freeda needed. Freeda was annoyed (because she was Baptist and not Mormon) and assumed the teller required her to be Mormon to get her change. She irritatingly said, “Do I have to be Mormon to even get change around here?” as she slammed her dollars through teller window. Without a word, the teller slammed the change back at her! She was only mildly embarrassed about her misunderstanding before laughing all the way home and telling her fellow waitresses at work the next day.

After two semesters in Salt Lake City, Freeda would find her adventurous spirit, pack her bag, take her $40 and drive through the Rocky Mountains on her way to the Denver, Colorado’s YMCA with $20 left in her pocket when she arrived. She was able to get a waitress job fairly quickly at the local Hilton Hotel where a coworker invited her to Calvary Temple Church with Pastor Charles Blair. The young adults group was the logical place to meet other people her age.

While at Calvary Temple, Freeda encountered the baptism of the Holy Spirit just two weeks after her future husband did. She would learn to lean on this supernatural gift of faith greatly for the next journeys of her life. Freeda learned to be a student of the Word as a teenager when her daddy, Emit, would invite her to sit and discuss what he had been reading in the Word. This practice continued for the rest of her life. When Freeda read Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 14 one day, she understood that the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues was for all believers. She shut her eyes, ask the Lord for this free gift, and the river of His Spirit that started that day never stopped.

Lee Guthrie was born Jan 30, 1939, to Everett Verl Guthrie and Luene Mildred Barnhouse at a farmhouse in Adair County, Iowa. He grew up on the rolling hills of Iowa farmland. He graduated from Menlo High School in 1957. Four years later he joined the Airforce on Jan 15th, 1961. He was a trained medic, a physiological training specialist, and a parachute jump instructor. He was sent to Okinawa Japan between June of 1961 and January of 1963. When he came back to the states, the Airforce transferred him to Lowry Airforce Base in Denver Colorado. Freeda met Lee at Calvary Temple in Denver, Colorado, in 1964. They met in the young adult group. The Lord showed them that they were called together in marriage and ministry. They dated for a short season and decided to quickly marry on August 7th, 1964. Freeda took the initiative and asked Lee on a Wednesday if he wanted to get married on a Friday… and he agreed! The only family member to witness their union was Carman Pittman, one of Freeda’s younger sister. They were married by Wally and Marilyn Hickey at their first Assemblies of God church in Denver. From there, Wally and Marilyn commissioned them into the ministry. Lee knew he was called to the ministry after receiving Christ while watching a Billy Graham crusade on TV at age 18 where he had felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit and went upstairs to his bedroom and invited Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. He made a commitment to serve the Lord. Neither sets of their parents knew of their marriage until after it was done, and were not happy that they were not given advanced notice. It had been a spur of the moment decision after all. But life went on.

In the years to come, many family reunions on the Pittman/ Simpson side would take place somewhere near the Rockies or the panhandle of Oklahoma, and the Guthrie/Barnhouse reunions would take place somewhere near central Iowa. Lee and Freeda would have their first child, Robin Lee on June 14, 1966. Freeda would go on to have another challenging birth in 1968. Marcia Lee was born and the doctor would tell Freeda that Marcia had a twin that stopped developing at the 3rd month. Marcia, who was born with physical challenges, would only live for 6 months before transitioning into heaven. Freeda and Lee grieved the loss of their baby girl. Then God sent restoration and gave Freeda a promise that she would have another baby girl. Miriam Lee was born on August 28th, 1971. Freeda suffered another miscarriage before Deborah Lee was born on Mar 1, 1978. Then Rachel Lee was born Nov 3, 1979. Mom had another twin miscarriage after Rachel and then the child bearing years ended.

The Lee Guthrie clan moved from their family farm in Adair county to Menlo, Iowa in 1977. Lee still helped his father, Everett Guthrie, farm the combined 604 acres of southwest central Iowa farmland as he and Freeda started a church called Marantha in Stuart, Iowa. They would pastor this church for 40 years. Robin pursued a career in the US Post Office which eventually led her to Tulsa where she would meet and marry her husband Joel Mitchell of Seminole, Oklahoma. Miriam pursued Music Composition and Music Education at Drake University and then Oral Roberts University where she would meet and marry Troy Springer of Kokomo, Indiana. They raised their family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Deborah would pursue her medical school degrees at Evangel College and the University of Iowa at Iowa City. She graduated Sum Laude. While in Kansas City she would meet and marry David Chisholm of Champagne, Illinoise. Deborah would start her own medical practice in LeRoy IL and their growing family would settle down in Downs, Illinoise. Rachel Lee pursued her musical pedagogy degree from Drake University where she graduated Cum Laude. She would write classical piano compositions that would be professionally recorded and made available in digital online music sites and resides in Greenfield, Iowa.

Freeda was a creative woman. She encouraged all of her children to try everything from playing instruments of many kinds to creating art through drawing, painting and even stained glass. Freeda was a homemaker and loved to cook and bake in their home. She was always “fine tuning” recipes she liked to make. One time, the new convection cooking technology was release in a microwave oven back in the 1980’s. Mom had to have this new technology. She bought one, took it out of the box and attempted to bake her classic pineapple upside down cake in it. The center of the cake never cooked. She tried it 3 more times and all 3 failed! This was not acceptable! She packed that microwave up with her family and took it back to the store the next day. The store manager rejected the return. She insisted that the technology had failed. Freeda challenged the manager to a pineapple upside down cake cook off right there in the store! Their prized microwave didn’t cook it all the way through but the oven with a turntable did. She won the cookoff and they had to give her the money back. Her family remembers getting to eat the finished edges of many a pineapple upside down cake in that cook off!

Freeda was a book worm! The library she amassed from book sale events and closeouts was immense. For any reason, family members could receive a book from her on electronic wiring, autobody repair, DIY home repair, current tax codes in the US, or the latest annual pharmacy dictionary. She was greatly intrigued by health and wellness trends. Her family would get to experience the latest herbal or supplement breakthrough in the kitchen cupboard. The Vitamix blender was a staple in her home, followed by the InstaPot pressure cooker. Everybody got one for Christmas one year.

Freeda would spend over 60 years applying the principles of the Word of Faith through intercessory prayer. When you needed agreement in prayer, Freeda was your fellow prayer warrior. She spent many days and nights praying with great diligence for many family members, friends and ministries that she followed. She understood the important role that the throne of heaven plays on earth. Freeda understood how to pray heaven on earth. There are so many supernatural answers to prayer that Freeda was directly involved with over the years. Several ministries would seek her assistance in prayer as they faced challenges. Miriam would recall that because her bedroom was right next to her mom and dad’s bedroom in the Menlo house, that mom would spend many hours travailing in prayer before the Lord for a long list of friends and family whose needs she was aware of. Freeda prayed for many international ministries and was very drawn to the missions field, even though she never got to travel. She understood that there was no distance in prayer. One of her favorite statements when asked to pray was, “Let’s send it through heaven.”

On February 6th, 2026, Freeda went to be with her Lord and Savior at the age of 84. She surely met Jesus who said, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into your eternal rest in My kingdom.” She will be greatly missed by her loved ones and friends who knew her best. One of the greatest pains of separation comes when family and friends can no longer pick up the phone and call Freeda when they need prayer for something. She was always available, always willing, always diligent, and always compassionate as she sought the Lord on their behalf.

Freeda was proceeded in death by her parents, Hannah and Emit Pittman, her youngest sister, Margaret Mattingly of Arizona, her daughter Marcia Lee, and her heavenly babies through miscarriage of whom she gave four names: Marie, John and Joy (twins) and Sarah. She is surely enjoying their company in the beauty of heaven. Freeda is survived by her husband of 61 years, Lee Guthrie, her 4 children, Robin and her husband Joel Mitchell and their three children Issac, Isaiah, and Esther; Miriam and her husband Troy Springer and their three children, Sarah, Rebekah and Levi; Deborah and her husband David Chisholm and their seven children, Daniel, Joel, Luke, Bethany, Jonathan, Caleb, and Malachi; and Rachel. Freeda is also survived by her brother Evert Pittman and his wife Thea Pittman and their two sons Brian Pittman and Ian Pittman, her sister Loeta Bryan and her husband Bob Bryan and their children Shawn Bryan, Troy Bryan, Debbie Whitaker, and Amy Curto, her sister Carman Ferguson and her three children Karen Mozola, David Ferguson and Michael Ferguson, her brother Emit Pittman and his four children Melody Pittman-Bainbridge, Lane Pittman, Emberly Pittman, and Crystal Pittman and the children of her youngest sister Margaret, Martin Mattingly, Darla Mattingly and Darbi Mattingly.

James 5:16 tells us “The affectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much.” [KJV]. This was a verse that Freeda lived by and considered to be of great value to everyone she loved and met. She lived it every day when she learned of it’s power. Freeda has surely joined the Great Cloud of Witness mentioned in Hebrews 12:1-3 and in doing so has now been elevated to a new level of spiritual authority to pray with greater understanding on our behalf. Her life of prayer will be cherished by those who loved her and who received her love. Thank you, Jesus, for receiving our precious Freeda into your eternal kingdom. See you soon. By the signs of this time, Jesus is coming and it won’t be long.