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Jessie Kathleen Wadley Geist, an early Colorado teacher and pioneer telephone operator in northern New Mexico,"placed her final calls" in the company of family and other loved ones on November 27, 2002. She was almost 97 and died peacefully of age-related maladies while a resident of La Vida Llena Retirement Center in Albuquerque, NM. She was born in Mooresville, MO, December 29, 1905, one of five siblings born to Edith R. Galbreath Wadley and Robert Marion Wadley. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jacob D. (Jack) Geist of Albuquerque; sister, Minnie Conrad of Pueblo, CO; brother, Robert M. Wadley of Los Angeles, CA; and sister-in-law, Barbara J. Wadley of Salt Lake City, UT. She is survived by her three children: Jerry D. Geist and wife, Sharon of Albuquerque, J. Michael Geist and wife, Charlotte of La Grande, OR, and Gretchen Geist Shipley and husband, Robert of Albuquerque; 14 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren; Two brothers, Richard J. Wadley and wife, Louise of Albuquerque and Ralph E. Wadley of Salt Lake City, UT, also survive her. She lived a full and rewarding life. Jessie graduated in 1924 from Fowler High School in Fowler, Colorado. She loved to recount an aerobatic ride she took with the famous aviator Charles A. Lindbergh during his barnstorming days. Her brothers Ralph and Robert slept overnight under his biplane outside Fowler to protect it from vandalism. In exchange for their night watch, the boys bargained a ride for Jessie. Lindbergh took her up and did some tailspins during their flight. Her stomach never quite recovered. She worked in Fowler for Phillips Bakery until the Fall of 1925, when she moved to Denver, CO to attend Colorado Woman's College under a full scholarship. Jessie graduated with a degree in education in 1927 and moved on to teach fourth grade in Arapaho, Colorado for the next three years. She lived in a women's boarding house, called a"teacherage."¯ It was in Arapaho where she met Jacob Geist, whom she married in 1929. They shared 72 years of marriage together that included a period of 25 years with 88 moves required by Jack's telegraph and telephone company's employment. In the 1930s and 1940s Jack managed the telephone offices in Springer and Taos, NM, and Jessie worked as a night operator. Money was tight in those days, and over one five-year period she remembered her pay rose from 29 to 35 cents an hour. She greeted people with the familiar"number please" when she answered those first generation switchboards; between late hour calls she could sometimes rest on a wood and canvas cot. She often placed urgent and important calls; one of those was from Mabel Dodge Luhan of Taos to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. The next two telephone company transfers took them to Las Vegas, NM in 1948 and to Albuquerque, NM in 1954. She again ventured into the business world after her husband's retirement in 1971. For years they managed several parking lots in downtown Albuquerque. She did all the bookkeeping, sales and collections for the space rentals. In the process she made many new and lasting friends. Jessie was a dedicated and long-serving Sunday school teacher in Las Vegas and Albuquerque churches. ¯In 1940 she joined Eastern Star Chapter 42 in Springer, NM, served in various capacities there and in Taos and Las Vegas, and became inactive in 1985. She was Worthy Matron of Taos Chapter 55 in 1945. She was initiated into the Las Vegas PEO Sisterhood, Chapter AC in 1953, and in 1956 she helped found and was a charter member of Chapter AH in Albuquerque where she attended until her death. Jessie was a woman of great dignity, style, courage, character and possessed a wonderful sense of humor. She was filled with caring and thoughtfulness for everyone she knew. Her quick wit was a delight to all her family and friends, and she was attentive to their well being, whether near or afar. She was known as a devoted wife, a loving mother and grandmother, a trusted friend, and a true lady. Memorial services will be held Saturday, 1:00 p.m., at First United¯ Methodist Church, 4th St. and Lead SW, with Dr. Terry Anderson officiating. A memorial service for residents of La Vida Llena will be held Saturday, 10:30 a.m., at La Vida Llena. Private interment will have taken place. Pallbearers will be Douglas Geist Jr., Bruce Kaemper Geist, Robert William Geist, Erika Kathleen Shipley, Carrie Marie Hout, D. Chris Elliott and Glynnis C. Elliott. Honorary pallbearers will be Jeffrey M. Geist, Donna C. Thomas and Jonathan M. Geist. Those who wish to remember her through a memorial are requested to donate to the Jessie K. Geist Scholarship Fund for Adult Faith Development, First United Methodist Church, PO Box 1638, Albuquerque, NM 87103, where she was a long time member. This fund will operate in perpetuity. Arrangements by French Mortuary. ¯ ¯
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