A Mass of Resurrection for Sister Barbara (Marie Rosaire) Geers, SSND, was celebrated Oct. 26 at The Sarah Community Marian Chapel in Bridgeton. Sister Barbara, 88, died at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital on Aug. 17. She died from injuries sustained in an auto accident in Belleville, Illinois, earlier that day.
The second child of Hazel (Stockstill) and Edward Geers was born at St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis on Dec. 1, 1937. Her father was confined to bed, and a neighbor took her mother to the hospital in the midst of a snowstorm. She was baptized on Jan. 16, 1938, at Holy Rosary Church and named Barbara Ann. She joined her older brother, Wallace. Her father died when she was only 10 months old. Later, her mother remarried and her sister, Mary, was welcomed into the family.
Barbara attended kindergarten at Holy Rosary School. The family moved to south St. Louis, and she was enrolled at St. Cecilia School, staffed by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. She joined friends to attend nearby Notre Dame High School, staffed by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Inspired by her SSND teachers, she began considering becoming a religious sister.
Barbara entered the candidature at Sancta Maria in Ripa on Sept. 11, 1955, 10 days later than her class, and received the candidate bonnet in a private ceremony in the candidature. She was received into the novitiate on Aug. 1, 1956, and given the name Marie Rosaire. She professed first vows on Aug. 3, 1957, and final vows on Aug. 3, 1963. Later, she returned to her baptismal name.
Sister Barbara earned a bachelor’s degree in theology from the former Notre Dame College in St. Louis in 1962 and a master’s degree in pastoral studies from Loyola University in Chicago in 1994.
Following profession, she began her ministry of teaching primary children for the next 26 years. She was missioned to Immaculate Heart of Mary in St. Louis (1957-65); Holy Angels in East St. Louis, Illinois (1965-70); Sacred Heart in DuQuoin, Illinois (1970-71); St. Francis Solanus in Quincy, Illinois (1971); St. Charles Borromeo in St. Charles (1971-76); St. Rita in San Diego, California (1976-77); Blessed Trinity in Miami Springs, Florida (1977-80); St. Hugh in Coconut Grove, Florida (1980-81); and Annunciation in West Hollywood, Florida (1981-83).
As her mother’s health began to fail, Sister Barbara requested in 1977 to teach closer to her mother, who lived in Homestead, Florida. After her mother had a stroke in 1983, Sister Barbara requested to live with and care for her.
With the death of her mother in 1988, she returned to the St. Louis area. She was a pastoral associate for the Illinois parishes of St. James in St. Jacob, St. Elizabeth in Marine and St. Gertrude in Grantfork. In 1996, she moved to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Springfield, Missouri, as the pastoral minister working with the sick and elderly and Stephen Ministry. In 2007, she returned to St. Louis and ministered with CSJ Care Ministries and All Family Care, companioning and caring for the elderly in their homes.
Looking for something part-time, in 2016, she volunteered at Anna House, The Sarah Community, and various places in the St. Louis area. On the morning of Aug. 17, she was traveling to Belleville, Illinois, to attend a funeral when she was involved in an auto accident.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Hazel and Edward Geers, and her brother, Wallace Geers. She is survived by her sister, Mary Frances (Gene) Veninga of Salem, South Carolina, family members, friends, classmates, School Sisters of Notre Dame in community and SSND Associates.
Sister Barbara was a kind, compassionate and encouraging person. She exhibited a pastoral heart in her relationships with others. She was a dedicated teacher who influenced countless students, families and her colleagues. She was an active member of her local church community, St. Pius V in St. Louis.
Burial of her cremains was in the Sancta Maria in Ripa Cemetery.
