Dr. Neita Frohmuth Geilker

Neita Frohmuth Geilker of Liberty died on July 18, 2023, at age 89 from pancreatic cancer. Visitation will occur on Saturday, July 22, 2023 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Second Baptist Church, 300 East Kansas Street, Liberty, Missouri. Funeral Services will be held on Sunday, July 23, 2023 at 3:00 p.m., also at Second Baptist Church, 300 East Kansas Street, Liberty, MO. Neita will be interred at Mount Memorial Cemetery in Liberty, MO in a private family ceremony.

She was born to Esther May Payne Frohmuth and Clifford Frohmuth, in Quietus, Montana, February 25, 1934, on a homestead cabin in the midst of a brutal winter.

She grew up in Kansas City and attended Westport High School and William Jewell College, where she met her husband, Charles Don Geilker. After teaching English for a few years, she married Charles in 1958 and accompanied him both for work and to pursue educational goals. Neita’s educational achievements included a master’s degree in English and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She received a Ph.D. at The University of Missouri, Kansas City, where her dissertation was awarded “Outstanding Dissertation of the Year.”

Work was important to her. She taught at William Jewell, later as a contract speaker for Fred Pryor Seminars, and then at her own business, Geilker & Associates. She was a member and later president of the Kansas City Chapter of the National Speakers’ Association.

Second Baptist Church was also important to her. She served for many years as a Bible Study teacher, a deacon, and chair of the Missions Support Committee. She was a founding member of In As Much Ministry, a Clay County crisis ministry begun at Second Baptist.

At William Jewell, she was a frequent volunteer serving as a member and president of the Woman’s Committee and member and then officer of the William Jewell College Alumni Board of Governors.

Community volunteering included serving as a member of the Liberty Historic District Review Commission and as coordinator of a book, “Liberty’ Living Legacy: 19th Century Houses and Buildings” and instituted the "Liberty Century Houses" plaque program.

She leaves behind her beloved husband, Charles Don Geilker, her daughter, Emily Geilker Cena, (Patrick) of Bakersville, NC; her son Charles Eric Von Geilker (Joyce) of Charlottesville VA; three grandchildren: Ralph Von Geilker of New York City; Adam George Geilker of Charlottesville, VA; and Ivy Elizabeth Geilker of Denver, CO; a sister, Jo Anne Bliss Yeokum of Kansas City; and a brother; Loren Frohmuth of Renton WA. She was preceded in death by her mother, Esther Payne Frohmuth, and aunts and uncles who cared for her after her mother’s early death.

The family suggests contributions to In As Much Ministries in lieu of flowers.