Alvina Geiger

Funeral Services for Alvina M. Geiger, 79, of Rockford, IL, formerly of Dickinson will be 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Dickinson, ND with Father Keith Streifel celebrating. Burial will take place later this spring at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.


Visitation will take place from 1:00 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, February 14, 2011 at Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson, with Rosary and Vigil Service taking place at 6:00 p.m.


Alvina, hospitalized at Swedish American Hospital in Rockford, IL, died Wednesday, Feb. 9, of a sudden cardiac event. Her wish was to be buried with her husband, Leo Geiger, in Dickinson, ND.


Alvina would want to be remembered as a mother, grandmother, and wife. She was all of those and more. As a young woman, her nursing school was cut short by an auto accident that broke her pelvis. Alvina recovered to work as a nurses’ aide in the operating room, first in Harrisburg Il where she married her husband Leo, and then in Ashley, ND where they relocated with their 2 (later to become 3) children. During their 10 years in Ashley, she was a wife and mother, and her desire was to support her husband and his career as hospital administrator in that town of 1200 people on the North Dakota prairie. After Leo’s career moved them to Harvey, ND (pop. 2500) she commuted to a near-by college and earned her bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology, graduating near the top of her class the same spring her oldest child graduated from high school. She went on to work in several rural North Dakota schools, and in the educational system in the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. The family later lived in Valley City, and then ended up briefly back in Ashley until Leo’s retirement when they relocated to Rockford, IL to be close to their grandchildren. In Rockford, Alvina tutored for the Literacy Council, was a census worker for the 2000 census, sang soprano in the church choir, and became sometime babysitter and bus service for her (then) 2 grandchildren. She loved to garden, and spent hours turning her yard into a colorful and beautiful space. Her great passion, however, was sewing and quilting. She had a tailor’s skill and an eye for color and detail that made her every creation stand out.


Alvina was predeceased by Leo in the summer of 2009.


She leaves behind 3 grown children and 4 grandchildren: Marianne Geiger (Scott Clark) who is a psychiatrist in Rockford and has 4 children, Christopher Geiger Shiro, Katherine Geiger Shiro, Adam Michael Clark, and Amanda Messenger Clark; Gregory Geiger, recently retired from United Airlines from his job as a baggage handler; and Edward Geiger (Susan Shaynak-Geiger) who works for Delta Airlines in Flight operations.


We will miss her wit and humor, her drive to always keep on learning, her strong opinions, any new quilts she might have created, and of course her love.


Please direct any monetary gifts to your favorite children’s charity in her name.


Click to View Program (PDF)


Burial Date: February 15, 2011
Funeral Home Dickinson, ND

Funeral Mass: Tuesday: St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Dickinson, ND