Young G. Freeman may have been born a century too late.

His well-worn cowboy boots were always on his feet. His saddle blanket was always just inside the front door. He kept an old photograph nearby, one that made him smile - him with a rope in his gloved hand, out among horses and a wide vista.

"He was most comfortable and happiest riding a horse on the open range," his son, Smith Freeman, of Berthoud, said. "He did his own thing and thought his own thoughts."

Young Freeman - who insisted in recent years that people call him simply "Freeman" - died Monday morning in Greeley after apparently suffering heart failure. He was 77 years old.

In the last six months of his life, he talked extensively about one of the most difficult moments he'd ever experienced, the loss of his daughter, April Melody Freeman. Melody, 8, was one of 20 children who died Dec. 14, 1961, in the collision of their school bus and a passenger train southeast of Greeley.

His recollections were featured in "The Crossing," a long-running series in the Rocky Mountain News that looked at the lifelong impact of the worst traffic accident in Colorado history.

"It's just one of those things that happened," he said of the accident during an interview in the fall of 2006.

Mr. Freeman was a man who did things his way.

He was born Noah Nicodemus Maldonado on May 26, 1929, in Fruita, the son of a preacher.

On Sept. 1, 1950, he married Elizabeth Maes in Redwing. They had seven children.

In 1961, he changed his family's name to Freeman and changed his first and middle names as well.

Mr. Freeman's life was enigmatic.

He sold real estate. He sold shoes. He farmed and ranched - where he worked hard in the fields.

One time, a piece of farm machinery touched a power line, severely shocking him. Mr. Freeman suffered a nasty burn on one hand and lost toes on one foot. His heart stopped. Another worker revived him, and after he came to his senses, the first thing he said was, "Well, gotta get back to work."

In recent years, he occupied himself in the club room of his Greeley apartment house, watching reruns of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and afternoon baseball games. He also wrote numerous letters, all of them typed.

The last time his son, Smith, saw him was Feb. 21 in Greeley at a forum organized to discuss "The Crossing." Mr. Freeman came in his Sunday best - denim slacks, a Western shirt, a tie, a vest. And he wore a huge smile.

Funeral arrangements are pending. A viewing is scheduled from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Stoddard funeral home in Greeley, 3205 W. 28th St.

He is survived by his former wife, Elizabeth Freeman, of Fort Collins; his sons, Smith, of Berthoud, Flint, of Loveland, and Starr, of Fort Collins; his daughters, Joy Downs, of Fort Collins, Gay, of San Antonio, and Crystal, of Denver; 13 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

vaughank@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5019