1 of 15
Ronald Freeze was a fixture at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama, frequently seen walking through the mall. He died Aug. 26, 2024, at the age of 81.
2 of 15
Photo from Reddit
Ronald Freeze was a fixture at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama, frequently seen walking through the mall. He died Aug. 26, 2024, at the age of 81.
3 of 15
Ronald Freeze, left, was a fixture at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama, frequently seen walking through the mall. He died Aug. 26, 2024, at the age of 81.
4 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
A photo of Ron Freeze at age 10 found in his apartment in Hoover, Alabama, after his death.
5 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
A photo of Ronald Freeze from his apartment in Hoover, Alabama.
6 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
Ronald Freeze and his wife, June, on their wedding day.
7 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
A photo of Ron Freeze found in his apartment in Hoover, Alabama.
8 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
Ronald and June Freeze and their two daughters, Bethany and Leslie.
9 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
Ronald Freeze sold hair and beauty products across the Southeast.
10 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
Ron Freeze's hats hang on a hat rack in his apartment in Hoover, Alabama.
11 of 15
P
Photos and personal belongings cover a dresser in Ronald Freeze's apartment in Hoover, Alabama.
12 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
Rings belonging to Ronald Freeze, cover the top of a dresser in his bedroom.
13 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
A collection of older items sit in Ronald Freeze's apartment in Hoover, Alabama.
14 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
Decorations in Ronald Freeze's apartment in Hoover, Alabama.
15 of 15
Photo by Emily Reed
Patriotic expressions are evident in Ron Freeze's apartment in Hoover, Alabama.
The city of Hoover on Wednesday is giving a public salute to a man who lived a very private and mysterious life, yet who was very recognizable and known to many as the “Galleria Elvis.”
Ronald Wilburn Freeze, a Hoover resident for the last 30 years who for decades was regularly seen walking inside the Riverchase Galleria and Brookwood Village, died on Aug. 26 at UAB Hospital from a subarachnoid hemorrhage — or bleeding in the space between the brain and surrounding membrane, according to officials. He was 81.
The funeral for the almost mythic man is scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Currie-Jefferson Funeral Home on John Hawkins Parkway, with visitation at 10 a.m. After the service, there will be a funeral procession that takes Freeze’s body on one last loop around the Riverchase Galleria on Galleria Circle before returning to the funeral home for a graveside service and burial. Hoover police and firefighters are scheduled to be his pall bearers.
News of Freeze’s death began spreading when the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office requested help in early September with finding any of his known family still alive. Within a few hours, hundreds of comments on Facebook threads circulated stories from people who knew of him from regularly seeing him walk the malls.
“When I saw the photo of him on my Facebook feed, I immediately said, ‘That is the man that always walked the Galleria,” said Catey Watson Hall. “I worked at the Galleria when I was 16 and worked at Chocolate Soup. I would see him there all the time. He was always pleasant, but I never had a conversation with him.”
Mike White, former general manager of the Riverchase Galleria, said Freeze was a man of intrigue and mystery.
Photo from Reddit
Ronald Freeze was a fixture at the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Alabama, frequently seen walking through the mall. He died Aug. 26, 2024, at the age of 81.
“I saw him walking the mall all of the time, but I don’t think he and I ever spoke,” White said. “He had incredible stamina because you would see him walking everywhere.”
One day, White had a surprising encounter with Freeze. “I had been at the Galleria for a short period of time and decided to go to Brookwood mall on my lunch break to check out some of the tenants they had,” White said. “I remember seeing Mr. Freeze at the Galleria, and then driving over to Brookwood mall and going in and seeing him there. I was like, “There is no way that is him,’ but it was!”
“He was definitely a guy that kind of made you wonder what is his story, and now that I know his name was Mr. Freeze, I really wish I would have known that while he was alive because I would have loved to have gotten to know him better,” White said.
Freeze often sported a mesh trucker hat lightly atop his head, with dark sideburns and a jet black beard. When not walking around the malls, he would often be seen at either the Hoover or Vestavia Hills libraries.
While Freeze was seemingly known by many, he was equally unknown, and kept mostly to himself in the very public places he frequented daily.
Reddit threads appeared online several years ago, with people trying to find out details about the man who walked around the Galleria.
Since his death, interviews have revealed a man who grew up in affluent social circles, served in the military and lived the life of a successful traveling beauty product salesman, but who suffered tragic personal losses that dramatically impacted his life.
EARLY LIFE
Freeze was born in Columbus, Georgia, on Feb. 14, 1943, to his parents, Rufus (Bubba) Wilburn Freeze and Florine Tucker Freeze. He had an older sister, Dianne.
Freeze’s childhood and early adult life were filled with times spent with his family in Columbus, where his family was well-known in many affluent, social circles. Freeze was well traveled and spent many years going to various places throughout the country with his family.
He was a Boy Scout and graduated from Auburn University in August 1965. At the age of 22, Freeze enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966 and served as a sharpshooter. He was honorably discharged from the Army in December of 1971.
Freeze met and married Joy Tucker Freeze and eventually moved to Birmingham where they resided for the remainder of their lives. The couple eventually welcomed two daughters, Bethany and Leslie.
Photo by Emily Reed
Ronald and June Freeze and their two daughters, Bethany and Leslie.
For much of his life, it is believed Freeze sold hair and beauty products across the Southeast for John-Paul Mitchell. There are multiple accounts from people who reported that Freeze greatly enjoyed this line of work, and it allowed him to meet many people across the country.
Freeze’s nephew, Lee Williams, who currently lives in Slidell, Louisiana, said Freeze was a natural salesman.
“Uncle Ron was very good at what he did,” Williams said. “He was very personable and could strike up a conversation very easily with people.”
In 1985, his wife passed away at the age of 40 after a battle with ovarian cancer. After her death, Freeze had to assume the role of both “mom” and “dad” to his two young daughters.
Both Bethany and Leslie would work at the Riverchase Galleria as teenagers. Leslie was employed by Security Services as a manager, and Bethany was employed with the Parisian department store for more than 10 years in the customer service department. In 1998, Freeze’s mother, Florine Freeze, died at her home in Slidell, Louisiana.
Tragedy would continue to strike Freeze after dealing with the deaths of both his wife and mother, when both of his daughters died in 1999 from different forms of cancer.
Freeze was seemingly devastated at losing both of his daughters within six months of each other. After their deaths, he kept to himself.
Bethany had a child, named Seth Russell, who was not raised by Freeze and had little interaction with him throughout the years.
“I think the amount of tragedy that Uncle Ron dealt with sort of forced him to retreat a lot,” Williams said. “You had this person who grew up in a really great family. My grandparents were very well liked in their community, and Ron and my mom had a great childhood. They were both destined for great things. I think with Ron, he just had so much sadness that hit him with the loss of his family that it really affected him for the remainder of his life.”
Freeze eventually retired in his 50s and spent the rest of his life in public spaces, walking at the malls each day.
“I think you ask yourself what happened to the man who seemingly had everything,” Williams said. “You had these great tragedies that happened in his life, and I think the reason he walked that mall and spent so much time there is because he was a broken man who missed his family dearly. The one thing in his life that reminded him of them was that mall. He had all of the foundation for a classic all-American, and ultimately he lost his heart when all of his family died.”
WHAT’S LEFT BEHIND
The one-bedroom apartment in Hoover where Freeze lived since the early ‘90s seemed frozen in time in a recent visit. Paperback books sat on his coffee table with bookmarks at certain places indicating plans to finish the story at a later date. In the living room, there was a hat rack filled with Freeze’s signature trucker hats, many sporting an Auburn University logo.
P
Photos and personal belongings cover a dresser in Ronald Freeze's apartment in Hoover, Alabama.
Two closets in Freeze’s living room held mementos of both of his daughters in trash bags, including stuffed animals from decades prior. He had a lot of patriotic memorabilia throughout his home, including flags and pieces of paper framed or tacked on the wall saying he was “proud to be an American” and “proud to be a veteran.”
A drawer was filled with dozens of old birthday cards given to him and his family over the years. A TV set from several decades ago was on the floor in Freeze’s bedroom, with Auburn posters and pennants hanging on the walls. The dresser in Freeze’s bedroom had photos of his wife and two daughters facing his bed.
One man who spent a lot of time with him was Ronald Grant, who works shining shoes at Shoe Care Specialist outside of the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel.
“Ron was a person that would always come by and stop and talk to me,” Grant said. “We would just start conversing, and I learned a lot about him over the years. Ron was an interesting person, and you know in my line of work, people will talk to you about a lot of things, and my role is to just listen to what they have to say. With Ron, I just listened to him, and I think we got along because I just let him talk.”
Grant shared that Freeze was a former boxer and was passionate about football, but he seemed to remain in a state of grief.
“Ron had a lot of sadness in his life, and he had shared with me about his family,” Grant said. “He told me that he had lost his wife and two daughters to cancer, and I do know that because of that, Ron really didn’t like cancer. It really affected him when he lost his family, and I know it bothered him a lot.”
Grant said Freeze often felt like people misjudged him and was aware that he often drew speculations or questions about his appearance.
“I would see people sometimes walking the mall and taking pictures of him because you know Ron had a very particular look about him with those long sideburns,” Grant said. “He was a nice guy, but I think a lot of people kind of wondered about him and didn’t really know what to think. He told me once that a lot of people thought he was poor because they would buy him lunch or give him food, but he told me that it made him laugh because people had the wrong impression of him.”
Grant said he last saw Freeze at the mall in early May and didn’t realize it would be the last time he would see the man he considered a friend.
Trish Garmon, a resident of Alabaster who grew up in Hoover, often saw Freeze on her trips to the Galleria.
When she saw the news of Freeze’s death, she wanted to step in and help figure out a way to give Freeze a proper burial, so she created a GofundMe account to raise money for Freeze’s funeral expenses. More than $7,000 was raised on GofundMe.
“It really made me sad that you had this man who so many people knew in and around Hoover sitting in a morgue,” Garmon said. “I wanted to give him the respect of a proper burial.”
Freeze’s funeral is open to the public.
