Jane Freeman, Minnesota first lady who helped build state’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, dies at 96

Jane Freeman, a former Minnesota first lady who helped her husband, Orville Freeman, helped build Minnesota’s modern Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, died March 23 at her home in Minneapolis. She was 96.

She had a heart ailment, said her daughter, Constance Freeman.

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party was created by the 1944 merger of the state’s Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties. She and Orville Freeman were instrumental in its growth, along with future senator and vice president Hubert H. Humphrey.