Dr. Geist's 'Extraordinary Impact on the Lives of Others'

Dr. Geist’s ‘Extraordinary Impact on the Lives of Others’

Community Celebrates 50 Years at Homecoming

As news began to spread about this year’s “Hometown Homecoming” festivities to take place in October, many in the Central Methodist University community took special note of a handful of events honoring the career of one man in particular.

Dr. Joe Geist, former professor of English and chair of the humanities division and co-founder of the Ashby Hodge Gallery of American Art, was named grand marshal of the Homecoming Parade and celebrated with a cocktail reception and a special dinner in his honor. The CMU community turned out in scores, with visitors coming from all over the country to pay tribute in person.

The turnout was “overwhelming, plain and simple,” as Geist put it.

But long before anyone returned to campus for those events, Geist’s students, fellow faculty and staff members, and friends alike left messages and shared photos in an online forum. They reminisced about trips taken, lessons learned, and experiences shared, both inside and outside of the classroom. Dozens of messages were left, but they can, for the most part, be summed up in one simple sentence.

“Joe, you’ve shown the world to so many,” wrote Susan Donnelly, ’70.

Across 50 years of educating and leading at Central, that is perhaps Geist’s biggest legacy, even though it’s one he never imagined having.

“I never thought I’d have a legacy here, to be honest with you,” Geist says with a laugh upon reflecting on what he expected when he first arrived at Central. “But certainly 50 years later, this is a legacy. I’d not be that foolish to deny that there is a legacy.”

Geist came to Central to teach primarily American literature in 1972, fresh off a summer teaching in Greece on the island of Samos. He never imagined he would end up staying in Fayette all these years, but a few key events changed the course of his life here: namely, the start of the “Janaway” program of trips to New York City and London and later the opening of the Ashby-Hodge Gallery.

“They stand out in my life here because of all the involvement and entrapments that I had,” said Geist. “My life expanded through both of those, over and over again, in terms of widening my spectrum and my outlook and attitude, my whole perspective here.”

Those same factors made it possible for Geist to widen others’ perspectives, as well. Many former students

Beverly Davis Garner, ‘88, and Kathy Dempsey, ‘86, celebrate with Dr. Geist.

Terry Coan and Terry Henderson, ’83

Gina Wyckoff shares a hug with Dr. Geist.

fondly recall their days spent experiencing the arts along with Geist on the Janaway trips. Those memories live on through the journals they kept while on the trips and continue to hang onto all these years later.

Even now, events in the world of arts and culture connect back to those times for Geist’s students. When stage and screen legend Angela Lansbury passed away in October, Geist was overwhelmed with messages from former students.

“I can’t tell you how many people have emailed me, Facebook messaged me and said ‘Do you remember how we saw the original Sweeney Todd with Angela Lansbury in New York?’” said Geist. “We have great connecting links there, with those memories.”

Another life-changing connection that occurred for Geist upon arriving at Central was meeting Tom Yancey, a fellow professor and artist who would become his partner in work and life until Yancey’s passing in 2019.

“We met that first few weeks I was here, and our relationship grew and grew and grew until we had the audacity to live together,” said Geist. “And that opened up all kinds of doors.”

It opened up doors for students as well. In his address to Geist and dozens of others gathered at the Homecoming Weekend dinner, Keith Young, ’86, recalled how often he was challenged, moved, and inspired while visiting the home of the two professors.

“The Spring Street [home] has been the scene of many supportive conversations for LGBTQ students and community members,” he said. “Joe and Tom were creating welcoming spaces long before that was commonplace.”

It’s no coincidence, no accident, that Geist’s home became a safe, welcoming place for students of all kinds. He says he “inherited” the responsibility of maintaining a good student/faculty relationship when he arrived at Central. But it takes work to cultivate those relationships, and Geist always made sure to put in that work.

He cites Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I when recalling that, “If you become a teacher, by your pupils you’ll be taught.”

“We learn from the students as much as they learn from us,” said Geist. “I learned how to be honest and how to have integrity. I learned how to think of the total picture of the student, how each one comes from a different environment, a different society. You take what that person brought and use that.”

Geist still uses that philosophy today, in conversations he has in the AshbyHodge Gallery. He loves speaking with the many foreign-born students on campus, often surprising them with his own stories

Mark Dempsey, ’85, Dr. Geist, and Beverly Garner, ’88

Dr. Geist celebrating the day.

Left to right: Bill Sheehan, ’84; Terri Rohlfing, ’98; Dr. Henry Graham; Sara Chaney, ’76; Keith Young, ’86; Dr. Geist; Nancy Peacock, ’82; Sarah King; Dr. Roger Drake; P. Rob Brown; Emily Myler; and Cole Nowlin Christina Vogel, ’91, with Dr. Geist.

Former board chair Tad Perry, ’65, with Dr. Geist.

That unforgettable Dr. Geist smile. Terri Rohlfing, ’98, with Dr. Geist Scan to view more photos from the event or visit https://bit.ly/3EF0EO5

of having visited their home countries.

“It’s that common ground that you offer and you find between students and yourself that’s very important,” he said. “Because you start with that common ground and you build from there.”

And upon the common ground he’s found with countless students over his 50 years at Central, Geist has built a legacy – as unintentional as it may be – that will truly live on. That fact was all but set in stone at the end of the dinner in his honor, when CMU Board of Trustees President Nancy Peacock made a surprise announcement on behalf of the board of the Ashby-Hodge Gallery that two of its rooms would soon be named after its co-founders, Geist and Yancey.

“It was a shock and a surprise, and as [Vice President] Bill Sheehan said, ‘I think we saw him speechless.’ Which was true,” Geist said of the announcement. “Regardless of where I go and what happens to me, that will be a rather lasting situation, as long as we have the Gallery here.”

Even without that tangible reminder, it seems unlikely that Geist’s contributions to Central will ever be forgotten. Certainly not as long as the students he impacted can recall what he meant to them.

“The life of Dr. Joseph Geist is one marked by extraordinary impact on the lives of others,” as Young put it in his speech.

It’s a life that has been equally impacted by those he met here, too.

“I’m very happy to be here,” Geist said simply. “I’m very pleased with my life here in terms of how it has evolved, how it’s progressed, and how I’m able to contribute to the welfare and the whole of life at CMU. That’s just who I am.”