Geraldine M. Pearson

Ruth Geraldine “Geri” Moore Pearson, 89, devoted wife for 42 years to the late Leonard B. Pearson; loving mother to sons Charles and Brian; loyal big sister to Sue Berry Nicholson, Charlotte Moore and the late Beatrice “Bee” Billups; and beloved aunt to many nieces and nephews, passed away peacefully by the sea on October 23 at her home in Stonington, CT. Her son, Brian, was by her side. Geri was born on October 19, 1934, in Tampa, FL, to the late Charles Bowen and Beatrice Ballintine Moore and grew up primarily in Jacksonville, FL. After studying at Sullens College in Bristol, VA, she moved to the storied Barbizon Hotel in New York City around 1955. In 1958, she took her first extended tour of Europe, where she worked at the American Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair (Expo 58). She spent two years living in the Back Bay and on T-Wharf in Boston, but Manhattan was her home for most of the sixties. It was there that she met her husband (m. 1969) and many lifelong friends and where she went horseback riding in Central Park early in the morning and regularly patronized the arts. She continued her studies at Hunter College, working for a time at Good Housekeeping magazine before obtaining her Masters degree in Library Sciences at Rutgers University, soon becoming the Chief Medical Librarian at Bellevue Hospital. In late 1969, her first son was born in Chelsea. A move to Morris County, NJ, soon followed, as did the arrival of her second son in 1972. She worked as the medical librarian at Riverside Hospital throughout the eighties and at the Morris County Public Library in the nineties and early aughts and was also a member of many boards and clubs there. In 2006, she and her husband retired to the Magnolia Point community in Green Cove Springs, FL, where she again took up numerous social and volunteer-based activities and became an active member of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, as well as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Following the 2011 passing of her husband, with whom she had taken many trips abroad, her life of travel and adventure continued with her younger son, including a 2014 around-the-world journey for her 80th birthday. In 2016, she moved to Pasadena, CA, to be closer to both her sons for what would be three joyful years. They lived briefly in Portland, OR, before settling in Stonington in 2020. Wherever Geri went, people who saw her smiled. She was smart, athletic, generous of spirt, ambitious, curious, radiant, resilient and inspiring. She possessed a keen sense of humor, the sweetest voice and the most sublime smile. She lived with integrity, optimism and faith. She will be sorely missed and forever loved.