Leslie Ann Bohlin Freeland

October 15, 1945 - June 15, 2014

Mineral Point - Leslie A. Bohlin, born October 15, 1945, died peacefully June 15, 2014 at University Hospital, Madison, WI. An excerpt from a letter to her Theta sisters best describes her life: "After getting my BSMI at Purdue I went back to Cleveland and took a job with AT&T Long Lines in their IM group. After my boss pinched my butt one day, I turned around and told him that I quit. Drove home having no idea what to do next. I followed my parents to Chicago and lived in their basement for two months until I found a job with CNA Insurance. When you see movies that show the Chicago skyline look for the big red buildings. I lived in the heart of the city for eight years and loved it. I married Carl Freeland in 1978. I "retired" from CNA in 1985 to pursue my childhood passion…weaving. I studied weaving for the next four years at the fine Line Creative Arts Center in St. Charles, IL, then Carl was transferred to Princeton, NJ and we moved and lived in Solebury, Bucks County, PA above New Hope on the Delaware River – a beautiful place. In 1998 we came to live in WI to be closer to family. On the Friday after 9/11 Carl announced that he was "trading me in for a younger model". So…I bought a great old building in Mineral Point built in 1876…originally a warehouse, then a feed and gran mill, then a restaurant, then a bar. An old friend from my days at the Fine Line became my business partner. Together we opened the Bohlin Gallery and sold arts and crafts, with my studio and looms in the back. I lived upstairs. Now, with that moron in the White House and the dive in the economy the art world has taken a dive as well…it's something about "disposable income"…I closed the gallery and gave up that dream. And so, I enter the next phase of my life having no idea where to go…I feel like a Purdue Senior again! About six years ago I acquired a strange disease called Charcot Marie Tooth. It kills the nerves in your legs and arms. The nerves control the muscles so weird things happen to your body. I am now classified as "handicapped"… and I have a sticker to prove it! I have braces on my legs to hold me up and big horrible clunky braced-up shoes. YUK. This is the reason I won't be with you today, nothing else cold keep me away"