Vada Jean Geitgey

It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Vada Jean Geitgey, 91. Jean was born in 1931 in Wooster, Ohio to LaVern Villers and Mildred Caroline Bupp. She grew up as an only child on a rural farm outside Apple Creek, OH. The animals on the farm were her playmates, especially the baby lambs she raised from birth. From 1st-6th grades, she attended an Amish one-room school, where the language spoken was Pennsylvania Dutch.

In seventh grade, she was bused to Apple Creek High School and first met Fred Geitgey. They became sweethearts (after Fred kissed her in front of her friends on a school outing). They graduated from high school together in 1949. Jean went to business school and Fred joined the Navy. They were married on September 15, 1951. They were both 19.

After military service, they moved back to an Apple Creek farm where, in addition to both having full-time jobs, they raised cows, chickens, pigs, hay, corn, and wheat. They hated the long hours of farming and the long, cold, snowy winters of Ohio.

So they moved to Florida in 1957. Fred took a job with the Martin Company in Orlando. They purchased a lot on 2nd Avenue in Windermere and constructed their first house for $13,000. In 1965, they purchased a 1920s Florida Cracker style house (that needed lots of TLC) on Little Lake Down.

Jean worked briefly as Windermere’s Town Clerk and at Disney’s Contemporary Hotel. She later took a job with the Windermere Post Office, working there for 13 years. She enjoyed sewing, quilting, caring for her grandchildren and pets, and tending to her beautiful house plants. And she loved the ocean. In 1995, Jean and Fred bought a beachside house at New Smyrna Beach. The beach house became their permanent residence a few years later when they sold their Windermere home. Later they purchased a second home near their daughter in Winter Garden.

After a long struggle with breast cancer, Jean passed away on April 11, 2023 at the Winter Garden home. She was preceded in death by her parents and son-in-law Larry Birkemo. She is survived by Fred, her husband of 71 years, daughters Diane, Kay (John) and Lisa (Tom), 7 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.

Fond memories and condolences may be offered for the Geitgey Family in the online guest book below.