Carolann Rena (Myers) Geist

Carolann Rena (Myers) Geist, 79, peacefully passed away on Saturday, September 12, 2015 at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, her hands held by her husband, granddaughter and Pastor. Cause of death has been established as multiple organ failure secondary to stage four cancer.

Carolann, known to family and friends as Carol, was born on November 9, 1935 in Lancaster, PA. While in high school, she and her family moved to Strasburg, PA. On September 10, 1955, Carol and John Gingrich Geist were married at the Lancaster Moravian Church. They had met while serving as leaders of Junior Red Cross organizations in their respective high schools and had dated for quite a few years. Her passing two days following their 60th wedding anniversary closed a life-long partnership of mutual love and affection. They were a team in every sense of the term and enjoyed being and working together in family and community activities.

Carol graduated from West Lampeter Township (now Lampeter-Strasburg) High School in 1953 and began training as a Laboratory Technician at Lancaster General Hospital. After their marriage, Carol and John moved to Baltimore upon his call to active Air Force duty and Carol worked in the laboratory at St. Agnes Hospital. In 1957, their daughter, Susan Louise, was born and the family relocated to Pittsburgh where John completed graduate school. In 1963, the family returned to Baltimore and settled in the Original Northwood neighborhood, later moving to Otterbein in downtown Baltimore. They had relocated to the Charlestown Retirement Community just prior to Carol’s death.

Carol studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and became a skilled graphic artist. While handling some commercial art work, most of her graphic talent was contributed as a volunteer activity to many nonprofit organizations, especially the garden groups of which she was a member and the faith community Carol and John joined when returning to Baltimore in 1963, Faith Presbyterian Church. She was very proud of the detailed illustrations she created for a book of Christmas “instructions, information and illustrations” written by her friend, Carroll H. Swarm.

Carol also was a committed and well-informed gardener who earned many ribbons at Federated Garden Club shows. After joining the Northwood Garden Club, later to serve in many officer positions including President, she became involved in leadership roles with the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland, of which she was a Life Member. When they moved to Harbor Walk in the Otterbein neighborhood, Carol became an active gardener with the Landscape Committee and the family joined a new faith community, Christ Lutheran Church at the Inner Harbor. Carol was an outstanding cook, having grown up in the Pennsylvania Dutch community in Lancaster where she learned the art through experience as she cooked for a large extended family.

Carol had been an active Girl Scout leader, a long-time volunteer with Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland, the American Red Cross blood donor program, the CARES food pantry in Govans and was an avid duck pin bowler for many years. She was one of the original class of docents at the Homewood House Museum at Johns Hopkins University and continued in that role for more than 25 years.

She is remembered by her grandchildren as a loving, thoughtful, and devoted grandmother. When the girls were younger, she would often stay overnight while their dad was on call, despite her allergies to their cat, Pumpkin. She would also quilt and sew for the girls who both have several hand-made pieces. In 2010, her granddaughter, Brittany, moved to Baltimore to attend Johns Hopkins and enjoyed the extra time she got to spend with her grandparents (and also the free meals). Julia remembers her as a prolific baker who happily passed on her skills.

She is survived by her husband, John, their son-in-law Gene Ashe, M.D. and his wife Lynn, of Walkersville, MD, granddaughters Brittany and Julia Ashe, her brother Ralph E. Myers and his wife Carolyn Voorhees of Lancaster, PA, brother-in-law Joseph R. Geist and his wife Laura of New Providence, NJ, brother-in-law J. Kim McNabb of Lancaster, PA, and many cousins, nephews and nieces.

Carol was preceded in death by her parents Rena Elizabeth (Burns) and Leslie Elliott Myers, her daughter, Susan Louise (Geist) Ashe and brother, Glenn Lee Myers.

There will be a Celebration of Carolann's Life at Christ Lutheran Church at the Inner Harbor, 701 S. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21230, Visitation with family 10:00A.M. and a service at 11:00 A.M., following the service, there will be a luncheon.

Gifts, in lieu of flowers, to Christ Lutheran Church or the Homewood House Museum at Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.