Mary Patricia Geuting, RSCJ

Birth: December 24, 1934
Profession: February 3, 1967
Death: May 23, 2024

Religious of the Sacred Heart, Mary Patricia “Pat” Geuting died on May 23, 2024, in Atherton, California. She was 89 years old and a religious for 65 years. Pat was born on December 24, 1954, in Darby, Pennsylvania, to Joseph Thomas Geuting, Jr., and Helena Mary Raskob Geuting. She grew up with a sister and a brother. She came to know the Society of the Sacred Heart when she attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland, graduating in 1952. She graduated from Manhattanville College in 1956 with a B.A. in Psychology. Pat entered the Society of the Sacred Heart at Kenwood in Albany in 1959. She later earned graduate degrees in Psychometrics from Fordham University (1959) and English from Manhattanville (1965).  

Pat made her first vows on September 29, 1961, at Kenwood and pronounced her final vows on February 3, 1967, in Rome. Beginning in 1962, until 1966, Sister Geuting taught at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Philadelphia. In 1966, she left for Rome to prepare for her final vows, after which she joined the faculty at Stuart Country Day School in Princeton, New Jersey, for ten years. She left Stuart in 1977 for a year of renewal and then went on to teach for one year at Newton Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. Beginning in 1979, Sister Geuting worked in the finance office of the Washington Province for three years and then as assistant provincial treasurer for the United States Province from 1982 until 1997.

In 1997, Sister Geuting became the assistant to the headmistress at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. She acted as business manager at the school for one year. She continued at Stone Ridge as the business office assistant until 2014. At Stone Ridge, Sister Geuting helped to improve processes in the business office and assisted in researching and implementing a new payroll system. She played a critical part in contributing to the school’s clean audits year after year and managed the financial aid files and database. After she retired from work at Stone Ridge, Sister Geuting was appointed to the school’s Board of Trustees (2015-2021). She served on the executive committee and the Master Plan Committee. She also was vice-chair of the board in the 2019-2020 school year. Her input was highly valued in the planning and construction of the Mater Center, the Campus Walk, and the renovations of the academic space. A tribute from Stone Ridge states, “Her knowledge of Sacred Heart education, spirituality and community helped the committee to make choices with our charism at our center. Her unwavering belief in the importance of the project helped to engage donors and other leaders in supporting it.”

Stone Ridge honored Sister Geuting in 2017 with the Barat Award. This is the highest award that the school bestows upon a non-student member of the school community. The award recognizes leaders who have made a significant difference in shaping the destiny of the school. While Sister Geuting’s contributions were many, it was her lived example of the mission, which influenced so many at Stone Ridge. As the headmistress commented, “She demonstrated a deep devotion to the mission of making God’s love visible in the world and seeking the heart of Christ in the world around her.”

In 2021, Sister Geuting retired to the Oakwood Retirement Center in Atherton, California, where she was a much-loved member of the community. She suffered a stroke in early April; though undergoing rehabilitation, she made little progress. However, she was able to enjoy family visits in person and on Zoom. As her condition worsened, she was placed on hospice. She went very peacefully to God in the early morning of May 23, 2024.

Funeral arrangements are pending at this time.

Contributions may be made in Sister Geuting’s memory to the Society of the Sacred Heart, P.O. Box 958047, St. Louis, MO 63195-8047 or online at https://rscj.org/donate.