Bobbie Rainey Geiger

Bobbie Jean Raney Geiger, 93, passed away on December 30th at Great Lakes Christian Homes in Holt, Michigan due to complications from colon cancer. She spent the Christmas Holiday surrounded by family and friends, and her sons and family lovingly cared for her during her final days. Bobbie was born in Birmingham, Alabama to Talitha Frances Raney on September 29th, 1931. At five months premature and weighing barely 2 pounds, her survival in 1931 was a minor miracle and a testament to her grit and fortitude. Bobbie grew up all over the south, residing in West Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Florida. She graduated from high school in Jacksonville, Florida and completed a three-year registered nursing program at the Ida Moffett School of Nursing in Birmingham, Alabama. She married (Francis) Bradley Geiger on July 5, 1952, on the banks of the St. John’s River in Jacksonville, Florida at her best friend Caroline’s house. Bobbie and Bradley lived in Jacksonville and Atlanta, Georgia, finally settling in Merritt Island, Florida in 1966, where Bradley worked at the Kennedy Space Station on the Apollo and Space Shuttle programs. Bobbie worked as a psychiatric nurse at Wuestoff Memorial Hospital in Cocoa, Florida; eventually rising to Head Nurse on the 3-11 PM shift.

Bobbie and Bradley had three children, Larry, Vance and Jim, with Larry and Jim born in Jacksonville, and Vance born in Atlanta. Once Jim, the youngest son graduated from high school they moved to Leicester, North Carolina where they built their dream home on 17 acres of idyllic mountain woodlands and fields. Bobbie worked as the head nurse on the locked unit of Highland Hospital, a very well-known private psychiatric hospital in Asheville. She was a gifted nurse and specialized in working with the most psychotic and schizophrenic patients. She worked at Highland Hospital until it closed in 1993 and retired thereafter.

She became an avid gardener and was an active member of the Leicester Methodist Church. She traveled widely after retirement, touring Europe and the Northeastern United States with Bradley. She also took tours of China, the Western United States and followed the route of St. Paul from Turkey to Rome with her eldest son, Larry and his wife Carol. Bobbie absolutely loved to travel to see new and interesting places and enjoy exceptional art and architecture. She was an avid and accomplished Bridge player throughout her life, sometimes playing in tournaments of high-level contract Bridge. She was an avid reader, as well as an avid seamstress, knitter, and quilter at various points in her long life. She loved games, especially Scrabble and Rummycub. She enjoyed classical music, musicals and had a strong love for Judy Garland. She made friends easily and maintained lifelong friendships from everywhere she lived. Bobbie and Bradley moved back to Merritt Island to live near their two sons, Larry and Vance, when Bradley became ill. After Bradley passed, Bobbie moved back to North Carolina, where her heart will forever be, and then to Holt, Michigan to be near her youngest son, Jim and his family. She lived at Great Lakes Christian homes thereafter, where she met wonderful friends and had many good years. She met Russell Holiday there and they soon became inseparable friends. Russell’s son, Scott became like a fourth son to Bobbie, and cared for her deeply. Bobbie and Russell traveled to many places, including two trips to Hawaii. She spent her years in Michigan having wonderful times with Russell and his son Scott, babysitting her grandchildren Carl and Brett, and enjoying life in Holt. She made one last trip to Paris in 2018 with Jim and his family, where she attended a service in Notre Dame Cathedral before the fire.

She is survived by her two sons, Vance and Jim and their wives, Kathy and Gay; her son Larry’s widow, Carol, Russell’s son, Scott; her grandchildren, Brett, Carl, Gabrielle, Mariah, Timothy and Christopher; her great-grandchildren, Sidney, Brennan, Rylan, Ellerie, Cwynn, and Honoria, and her many friends at Great Lakes. She is predeceased by her husband, Bradley; her oldest child, Larry, and her mother, Frances.

A memorial service will be held at 3:00 PM on Tuesday, January 14th, at Great Lakes Christian Homes, 2050 S. Washington Road, Holt, Michigan. In lieu of flowers, donations in Bobbie’s name can be made to the Greater Lansing Food Bank or Doctors Without Borders.