Birth date: Oct 20, 1930 Death date: Aug 30, 2014
Norma Lee Geiger, 83, of Spring Hill, Florida passed away Saturday, August 30, 2014. She was born in Rochester, Pennsylvania to Clifford Teets and Bertha Householder. During her lifetime she lived in West Mayfield and Chippewa, Pe Read Obituary
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Second, my mother taught me to be tough as I watched her endure many setbacks in life and never cave in. She wasn’t much for people whining about their problems. If she heard a news story where someone was trying to blame their bad behavior on depression or abuse, she would say, “We’re all depressed” or “We’ve all been abused.”
Third, my mother taught me to take responsibility for my own actions. If I had a problem with a teacher, it was always my fault no matter what my side of the story was. “You made your bed, you lie in it,” she would say.
And finally, what I learned from my mother was how to be a good mother. She came to visit and help with the babies each time for the first week we would be home from the hospital. As I struggled as the nervous and exhausted new mother, she would be the one who was patient and nurturing and able to get the baby to finally stop crying.
Thank you Mom for all you have given and all you have taught me over the years. I will miss so much talking to you and enjoying your sense of humor. I will love you always. Rest in God’s peace, you certainly deserve it.
These were my words at Mom's Celebration of Life service:
For each of my parents’ 80-th birthdays, I gave them a copy of this book, The Journey: A Celebration of Life: A Guidebook for Writing Your Life Story by Lee Q. Miller.
The intention was that they would read it and answer the questions about their lives. This would then serve as a priceless legacy to my sister and me, our children, their children, and so on. Well, neither of them did their homework as assigned and since Mom was not really capable these last few years after her stroke, I took the opportunity to work on it with her. I asked the questions, she answered, and I wrote. It was amazing how she couldn’t tell me what she had for lunch that day, but she could remember brilliantly the events of 60-70 years ago. I learned a lot about my mother in the process: her father was strict, her mother was kind, her 4 brothers teased her a lot, she and her 7 sisters were taught to always do their share, life on the farm was a lot of hard work, what they did during their leisure time was they didn’t have any, what they did on vacation was more work, and it was great to go to school to get away from all the work. But she survived all that and grew into a beautiful young woman who got straight A’s, cheered for the high school football team, belonged to many clubs, and went to work after high school for Babcock & Wilcox. We continued on through the book and as we got into the deeper life-changing types of questions: most impactful experience, most influential person, most significant event, etc., one theme became very clear: Duane. She said things like, “The timing of their relationship was just about right when he was still wild and needed to be tamed down, they were crazy kids in love but at least Duane had a job and brought home a paycheck, and she was always trying to please Duane which is tough because he is so fussy.” The biggest turning point in her life was going to California to elope with Duane and she never regretted that decision. Even after 63 years, she said the feelings were still the same. She felt they had a good life because they didn’t have any illness and they had good kids.
As one of those good kids, my mother can be thanked for that goodness. She ran a perfect household that I, to this day, have never been able to live up to. Chores were done on specific days of the week every week, the house was always clean and beautifully decorated, and meals were always made from scratch and on the table promptly at 5:15 when Dad would get home from work. She drove us to endless dance and gymnastics lessons, taught Sunday School, and served as Brownie and Girl Scout troop leader. She always knew how to make us feel better when we were tired or sick. She would say, “Drink your orange juice, it’ll wake you up” and it did. Or when feeling carsick after a long car trip, she would open the window and say, “Smell that good Pennsylvania air, it’ll make you feel better” and it did. She thought it best to stay away from doctors and believed if she went to one, they’d be sure to find something wrong with her. Her wisest health advice which still serves us well today was “Everything in moderation, nothing to extreme.” She ruled with an iron fist saying things like, “If you don’t stop that, I’m gonna hang you up by your ears!” She mediated fights between Debby and I with the ever helpful advice, “Fight nice you two.”
So what have I learned from my mother over the years? First & foremost she taught me to be independent. If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times that I must grow up to be independent and never depend on a man. She felt a woman should know how to take care of herself and have her own income so she would never stay in a bad situation merely because she had no other choice. I might have taken this advice a little too far as it took me until I was 31 to get married.
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Here is what I presented at Mom's Celebration of Life Service. .just some highlights of my memories of her.
Penny and I were very lucky girls because our mother was a dedicated “Stay-at-Home” Mom. We were very spoiled as she attended to our every need. She cooked a delicious dinner every night so we could enjoy an evening sit-down meal as a family promptly at 5:15 PM when Dad arrived home from work. Dinner had to be on time because Dad often had to go straight back to work after dinner. On the menu was one bill of fare. She did not coddle us by feeding everyone something different so we could eat our favorites every night. From this regular routine I learned that you either ate what was on your plate or you went hungry. I think you can tell from looking at me that I didn’t go hungry very often. More importantly I learned the value of sharing an evening meal as a family. Even to this day with my own children and now just with my husband, we always eat dinner together. It serves as a focal point for our family. A chance to share the highlights of our day and discuss plans for the next day.
Mom was also very crafty, thrifty and resourceful. As displayed on the table, she would blow out eggs, decorate them with melted wax from old crayons using a pin head stuck into a clothespin, and then use the egg contents to make the most delicious pizzelle cookies or homemade noodles. As Penny and I were sorting through Mom’s clothes this week, we found a home made hair bow and necklace made with the left over fabric from an outfit she shortened. She wasted nothing. She recycled way before recycling was vogue. From this behavior, I learned not to waste anything.
Mom was also very creative. She would see something on television like a huge pair of pants walking by themselves, and the next thing I knew that is what I was wearing as a Halloween costume. Then she would get Dad to drive me around to all the local Halloween parades and I would come home with several “best costume” awards. All this extra effort on her part contributed to boosting my self-esteem because it was great fun to be in these parades and win these prizes. But I think she was also a little proud of her accomplishments.
Mom also never tired of driving us around to all of our activities. When I was in Junior and Senior High School, I had a different extra-curricula activity every night of the week. Either she or Dad dutifully took me to all these functions, but Mom also usually managed to accomplish several errands either en route or while she was waiting for us. I think this is where I inherited my ability to multitask. I can also remember Mom taking me to school many times in her nightgown when I would miss the bus in the morning and she seldom complained.
However, to make her chauffeuring duties a little easier to muster, she always loved driving a convertible. She never failed to tell Dad how many heads she turned driving this convertible - even after she moved to Sugarmill Woods and her hair was a little grayer. I am also experiencing this head-turning phenomenon now that I am the proud owner of her last convertible.
As Penny and I became adults and we had our own children, you couldn’t ask for a better grandmother. When the babies were born she always stayed with us for at least a week and helped with many of those late night feedings. My first son was born on November 10. I lived in Cleveland, OH at the time and Mom lived in Chippewa, Pa. She catered Thanksgiving that year bringing the turkey, stuffing and even the mashed potatoes in the trunk. From this extreme demonstration of giving, I learned that anything is possible when you are trying to help somebody.
Even though Mom was a “Stay-at-Home” Mom, she also taught us that women can do anything a man can do. She did go back to work the day Penny started college and she was very proud of what she was able to accomplish at Sears in those 13 years. When the Real Estate Office at S
Please accept our condolences for the loss of Aunt Norma Lee. We will keep you in our thoughts and prayers - Jean Herdt and family
Norma was always so very nice to me....gave me my very first babysitting job when I got to watch baby Debby. I still have one of the eggs she decorated and shared with my Mother, Evelynne Wasko. We lived on the same street in West Mayfield and everyone felt they were the nicest neighbors. So glad you were part of my formative years. Rest in peace, Norma. Sincere condolences to the entire Geiger family. Larry and Stevie (Wasko) Matrazzo.
