Colleen M. Fremont, USPS retiree
Colleen M. Fremont (née Albert Winters Lynch), who lived near Dover, passed away Tuesday, July 6, 2022, at the age of 80.
She began to transition from living as Albert W. Lynch in 1989. Albert was born Nov. 5, 1941, and was the descendant of an old Baltimore family. Dr. Andrew A. Lynch, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and the State Senate in the 19th century, was his great-grandfather. Albert graduated from Bel Air High School in 1960 (Bel Air, Md.). Following graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and subsequently had careers in law enforcement, as well as with the U.S. Postal Service. In the mid-1970s he was awarded Police Officer of the Year by the Town of Bel Air Police Department, and he received a bachelor of arts degree from Towson University in 1976. He later worked for the Chessie System in railroad security. He was a member of the Oak Grove Baptist Church, where he taught Sunday school and was a deacon.
In the late 1980s, he left law enforcement to work for the U.S. Postal Service in Bel Air. While he was employed there, he transitioned to living as Colleen, more than 25 years before Caitlyn Jenner ever graced the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. This change quite possibly made Colleen a transgender trailblazer in the area.
Colleen left Maryland for Norfolk, Va., in the early 1990s, where she met her second spouse, Raymond Fremont. Following retirement from the U.S. Postal Service, Colleen briefly worked as a docent in Colonial Williamsburg, Va. Colleen and Ray enjoyed traveling cross-country by recreational vehicle, especially to Key West, Fla. Eventually they relocated to Lewes, where they were members of Midway Baptist Church. Following the death of her husband, she moved to Hampton, Va., where she was a member of First Christian Church in Hampton, before returning to Delaware.
Colleen was predeceased by her parents, Frederick C. Lynch and Helen Lynch Rabasa; her brother Frederick W. McD. Lynch; and her sister, Helen Lynch Lehrmann.
She is survived by her ex-wife from her first marriage, her son, Sean E. W. Lynch; and another son; one grandchild; as well as her brother, Urban H.D. Lynch; her niece, Mary Keithley; and five other nephews.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health.
