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OBITUARY: Jo Maitland Geltner

Jo Maitland Geltner, 52, died January 10, 2008 in Seal Rock, Oregon.

She was born to Ruth Vollmer and Walter Maitland on March 18, 1955 in Loveland, Colorado. She attended Loveland High School, then the University of Oregon where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Music and a Master’s degree in Leisure Studies with an emphasis in Gerontology. She also received a Certificate in Festival and Event Management from the University of Oregon. She married Frank J. Geltner, Jr. on September 10, 1977 in Drake, Colorado. They came back to Eugene where Frank worked at the University of Oregon’s Erb Memorial Union for twenty years, when Frank took early retirement to become the Executive Director of the San Juan Community Theatre in 1997. They moved to Newport in March of 1999.

Jo taught elementary school music in the late 70s. After completing her Master’s degree, she was hired by Olive Plaza, a senior residential center in Eugene. She also worked for the Pearl Buck Center in the late 70s working with children with developmental disabilities.

Jo spent several years at Olive Plaza providing social services to the residents. Her abundant talents and caring heart showed in her involvement in keeping residents active. She was always ready to help residents as they encountered the ups and downs of life as seniors. She was a tenacious advocate for residents in their need for support from the community and this we know help some to be able to stay in their homes much longer. She affected the atmosphere of the community at Olive Plaza by giving of her marvelous musical talent. She helped encourage weekly sing-a-longs, talent shows and kitchen bands as well as talent shows that did such things as getting resident and staff men to dance in tutus and poets to put their talents in motion. She helped get residents out in the community, state and even out of the country by planning outings in the Olive Plaza bus for which she helped write the grant. Olive Plaza residents were very fortunate to have had the opportunity to have Jo serve them.

She loved to play the piano and used that skill mostly in her church work. She was a life long Christian Scientist. She enjoyed her memberships at the First Church of Christ Scientist, Eugene, and Christian Science Societies in Friday Harbor, Washington and Newport, Oregon.

After giving therapeutic service to many geriatric populations, Jo decided to compile a song book and began a collaboration with Randall Moore from the University of Oregon School of Music. For over ten years she worked on the project and developed it into a sizable collection of favorite songs to serve gatherings of seniors. Son and piano books were nearly completed for publication which will now be produced in her loving memory. At the heart of the project is the desire to create a songbook with favorite songs arranged for senior citizens’ lower vocal ranges as well as large print for ease of reading.

At the heart of the project is the desire to create a songbook with favorite songs arranged for senior citizens' lower vocal ranges as well as large print for ease of reading

For years Jo served as the face of advertising with the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts including the NOW PLAYING, the Monthly Newsletter and the regularly appearing NOW PLAYING Stack Ads appearing in the News Times and its various publications. Her fundraising efforts, in this regard, were quite substantial over time.

Jo was most importantly an arts advocate. She was especially instrumental in establishing the Golf for the Arts fundraiser for the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts, in support of children’s arts programming.

Jo was also a member of the Agate Beach Womens Golf Club, an affiliation which brought her much friendship and joy.

Jo and Frank were both active in The Very Little Theatre in Eugene for nearly 17 years and are were named Honorary Members.

A private service will be held at the Mountain Home Ranch in Drake, Colorado later this year. Survivors include her husband, Frank, her brother James Maitland and his wife Kathy and their children Joshua, Jessica, and Amanda, her brother Thomas Maitland and his wife Sheryl and their children Laura and Diana, and her sister Suzy Rubin and her husband Gary.

A memorial service will be held at noon on Saturday, February 16, 2008 in the Newport Performing Arts Center. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Jo Maitland and Frank Geltner Endowment Fund of the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts; or, a Jo Maitland Arts Education Fund being established at the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts in her honor.

SAN JUAN ISLANDER © 2008

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