Margie Freston, 90, of Johns Island, South Carolina, passed away on September 15, 2026, at her home after a long illness

Born on February 27, 1936, in Kimberly, ID, Margie was the daughter of the late Rachel Martha Sudweeks and the late Harold D. Sudweeks.

Family, faith, and concern for others shaped Margie’s accomplished and adventurous life. Her journey from birthplace, Kimberly, Idaho, to Charleston, South Carolina, included homes in Idaho Falls, Idaho; Ogden and Salt Lake City, Utah; London, England; Hartford, Connecticut; and Kiawah Island, South Carolina. She studied music at Brigham Young University and earned a nursing degree from Weber College. She then paused her advanced education for 11 years while her husband completed medical school and clinical training. At 32, she returned to college as an “older learner,” earning a Bachelor of Science, a master’s degree in nurse-midwifery, and a PhD in health science from the University of Utah. She and her graduate nurse-midwifery students delivered babies on the Navajo reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico, and she delivered approximately 150 babies in the emergency rooms of Cook County Hospital and in the nearby under-served South Chicago neighborhoods. She taught graduate nursing at the University of Utah and the University of Connecticut. She retired after Crohn’s disease severely affected her health and macular degeneration robbed her of her vision.

She raised four children and remained close to her eleven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. For ten years she conducted “Camp Freston” to teach her grandchildren basic camping skills but which evolved into family reunions on both coasts. She took each grandchild on “Grandma trips” when they turned 12 or 13. Destinations included Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, Hawaii and others.

She traveled to 40 foreign countries, usually to attend professional conferences but trips to Jerusalem, Zambia, the Baltics and Panama Canal were rewards for a lifetime of labor and service.

A faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she served in many volunteer roles. Her favorite was organizing and directing the choir for the dedication of the Church’s Boston Temple on October 1, 2000.

Despite her many roles—as a wife of 70 years, mother of four, grandmother of eleven, great-grandmother of ten, nurse, midwife, educator, and musician—she described herself simply: “I am a child of God. That’s who I am.”

In addition to her parents, Margie is preceded in death by her sister Janet Ellison and brother Jay Sudweeks.

Margie is survived by her husband of 70 years, James Freston; sons: Curtis Freston, Cary Freston and Randal Freston; daughter, Jana Mendenhall; brother, Alan Sudweeks; grandchildren: Rebecca Demeron, Quiana McGaughey, Jemina Mendenhall, Christina Simbolin, Tyrone Freston, Naomi Mendenhall, Wesley Freston, Tenzin Mendenhall, Ryan Freston, Tsultrim Taia Mendenhall and Rachel Freston and ten great-grandchildren

The family will receive friends on Friday, September 17, 2026, from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at McAlister-Smith Funeral Home, West Ashley.

The funeral service will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, September 18, 2026, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1519 Sam Rittenberg Blvd, Charleston, SC 29407. Burial will follow at Live Oak Memorial Gardens in West Ashley.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Hyde School, 616 High Street, Bath, ME 04530 or www.hyde.edu.

Expressions of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at mcalister-smith.com/.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to McAlister-Smith Funeral and Cremation, 2501 Bees Ferry Road, Charleston, SC 29414, (843) 722-8371.