Lessons learned from her father are simple ones, said Katie Wood Freiberger, a Natchez attorney who followed in the footsteps of the late Robert Y. Wood, her father and also a lawyer.

She learned the importance of being straightforward, self-confident and family-oriented. She learned to laugh and enjoy the humorous side of life. And she learned a lawyer’s best defense is to know the law well.

Now in her 40s and a wife and mother, Freiberger said the lessons learned from her father have come back to her as she rears a son, now 4 years old, with her husband, Terry.

&uot;I remember it was always fun to go places with Daddy. He’d take me to the law offices. He encouraged me. We read a lot together. And we watched World War II movies. I didn’t like war movies, but I liked to be with him.&uot;

She remembers the family going to the country to go fishing or to the swimming pool, always together. &uot;He was funny, and we laughed and had a lot of fun,&uot; she said.

Most important, perhaps, her father taught her, along with her two younger sisters and younger brother, &uot;that we could do anything we wanted to do.&uot;

The idea of choosing law as a profession probably was planted in her at an early age, Freiberger said. &uot;I guess I probably always thought about law. I liked to read and to write and I did well in those classes at school.&uot;

Her father encouraged her to go to the University of Mississippi. He had attended Ole Miss and received his law degree in an accelerated program from the law school there.

&uot;He was very strong on in-state education,&uot; Freiberger said. &uot;He talked about how he got his degrees there, went into the Navy and was a Navy pilot and then was transferred to Newfoundland.&uot;

As a way to get out of Newfoundland, he opted to attend judge advocate general school, &uot;and he ended up at the top of his class against people who had law degrees from all over the country,&uot; she said.

Her father encouraged her to be practical, to get undergraduate degrees that would lead to good career options. &uot;I got a double major in banking and finance and managerial finance,&uot; she said. &uot;I loved English, but they didn’t want me to major in it.&uot;

During her senior year at Ole Miss, she told her father she planned to attend law school. &uot;He was excited,&uot; Freiberger said.

She completed law school and was hired by a well-known firm in New Orleans. She and her husband, also an attorney, came to Natchez to be married in 1995.

&uot;We started thinking about moving out of downtown New Orleans. Big city life was not that desirable,&uot; she said. &uot;So we sold our house in New Orleans and got an apartment in the garden district. We started looking for a house in Natchez.&uot;

The Freibergers bought Airlie, one of the oldest houses still standing in Natchez, and began coming for long weekends. &uot;And then I moved here two years later and began working with Daddy.&uot; Her husband continued to work in New Orleans but to commute for long weekends.

Her father was excited about his daughter coming to work with him, Freiberger said. &uot;But he always made it clear that it is a challenge to make a living as an attorney in Natchez.&uot;

True, the salary was not the same as in New Orleans, she said. &uot;But you get a lot of lifestyle.&uot;

By the time she was practicing in Natchez, her father was coming only a few hours to the office each day. Still, he was there long enough to give her many memories and lasting advice.

&uot;He was very straightforward with his clients. He told them exactly what he thought,&uot; Freiberger said. &uot;I do that now, and that is probably one of the strengths of our family.&uot;

The Wood name still appears on her office door and on her letterhead. And the lessons learned continue to affect her decisions.

When her father and mother, Zoe Wood, died only 18 months apart, some important lessons came back to serve all the four siblings, she said.

&uot;He was very strong about family. He taught us that we were the closest to each other than to anyone else and that we were the same blood. That was important to him. And it is important to us.&uot;