In 2019, ATO lost lifelong brother George T. Geiser ’42 at the age of 98. George graduated in 1942 with a degree in finance and commerce, and after graduation and WWII, he had a long career with Westinghouse Electric Corp. He spent the last 25 years of his career at Headquarters in Pittsburgh with responsibilities all around the globe.
Before he passed away, George wanted to come back to the fraternity house that had meant so much to him at Penn State. During his visit, he said things were in many ways different but in many ways the same.
In 1939, the house was new and unseasoned by 80 years of fraternity life. There were overstuffed leather chairs, oriental rugs and a grand piano that George played regularly as he accompanied fraternity socials. There was a housemother who kept an eye on the young men and oversaw dinners in jackets and ties. Brothers took their studies seriously, and their socializing as well! George told stories of the price of a keg and how they settled in with one regularly on the side porch in the springtime.
While walking through the house, he and the brothers ended up in the corner bedroom where he lived for three years. He told his young brothers that he had been on the top bunk studying chemistry when the word came that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. Life changed for everyone that day. As they continued the tour, George went room by room, telling who lived in each room and in what capacity many of them had fought, and in some cases died during the war.
George married Jane Royer from Kane, PA, in 1947 and the couple had three children. The family followed his Westinghouse career with stops in Sharon, PA, Edgewood, PA, and Columbus, OH. They settled in the Upper St Clair suburb of Pittsburgh in 1960 where he resided until his death.
