Elsie Freudenberger was born in Santa Ana, California, to Arthur and Elsie Kittlesen. She attended Santa Ana public school for elementary and secondary education, and then took an Associate’s Degree from Santa Ana College, California (1952), a Bachelor’s Degree from Redlands University, California (1954), and a Master’s of Science Degree from Simmons College School of Library Science (1972). Ms. Freudenberger worked as a teacher in the Compton public school system in 1954-55. She married Dean Freudenberger in 1955, and the couple raised four children, Mark, David, Anne and Jane. During her marriage, she worked as a commissioned missionary for the Methodist Church in the Belgium Congo from 1957-1960 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1962-1966. Later, she worked as a librarian for the Wellesley Free Library, Massachusetts (1972), as a reference librarian and interlibrary loan coordinator, and then the Claremont School of Theology (1973-1990) in a number of positions including acting co-director and head of the cataloging department. In 1990, she began working for the Northland Ministry Partnership of the Minnesota Consortium of Theological Schools. She retired in June of 1997. In 1999, the Freudenbergers retuned to Claremont, California to live at Pilgrim Place.