Geotta Whitney ’48
Born in St. Ignatius, Montana, to George and Henrietta Stendal, Geotta was raised in Portland, where her mother was a seamstress at Jantzen and her father worked as a paymaster at a logging camp. She graduated from Grant High School during World War II and stayed in touch with her grammar school friends for the rest of her life. She attended Reed before moving to San Francisco in the 1950s, where she met and married William Whitney. They later moved to Oregon and raised four sons. After a divorce in 1965, Geotta moved to Medford, Oregon, and raised her boys as a single parent working in a bookstore. She often said, “I did not raise four boys, they raised me.”
Eventually, she moved to Salem to be closer to family and friends, working for the City of Salem Community Development Office until she retired. Geotta’s passions included cooking, canning, gardening, and reading. Predeceased by her son George, she is survived by her sons Doug, Fred, and Beau.
Appeared in Reed magazine: December 2017
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
comments powered by
From the Archives: The Lives they Led
Scholar of Violence, Agent of Justice
The Butterfly Effect
Prince of Pi
The Fish Missionary
High Flyer Broke Records—and Barriers
He Went with the Flow
Slain defending teenager from hatred.
Influential Professor, Jazz Musician.
Statistician Who Defied The Odds.
Philosopher of the Air
Taught a Generation How to Look at Art
Authored Elegant Thrillers
Saw Death Camp Twice: As Prisoner and as Liberator
Master of the sucker-punch sentence
AIDS Researcher, Gay-Rights Pioneer
The Architect of Zoloft
Sorted the "good" cholesterol from the bad
Journalist, activist, witness to history
Influential anthropologist, inspiring professor
Investigative journalist won Pulitzer prize
Green Pioneer
Cartographer of the Brain
Radical lawyer Fay Stender fought for prison reform – and paid with her life
A life of promise cut short by tragic bicycle collision
Literary Scholar, Dedicated Teacher
Saved lives as an ER doc, buried a sports car
Visionary Technologist, Prodigal Son.
Mathematical physicist hunted giant prime numbers.
Electrifying economist investigated the economics of air pollution.
Prison governor reformed British penal system.
The Literary Sorcerer
Zen priest, beat poet
Photojournalist captured flames and the spirit of firefighters
The "Godfather of Old Town" revitalized Portland's inner city
Particle physicist stopped bulldozers from razing Hidden Peak
"Unorthodox" dean, inspiring correspondent
From wartime welder to molecular biologist.
Cardiac pioneer was on the scene of every heart attack in Juneau for 14 years
Michigan congressman led fight for sanctions against South Africa
Teacher for the deaf
Dancer, choreographer, and library curator
Poet of Ordinary Mysteries
Leading political scientist survived Nazi prison.
Scarred by war, dedicated to helping Oregon's poor.
Anthropologist revolutionized field of sociolinguistics
Inventor of the Gordon Wrench
Author, filmmaker, anthropologist
The Henry Ford of higher ed.
Rocket scientist and father of the Aerohydrofoil sailboat
California preservationist
Historian of towering stature
Escaped Nazis, became a US spy, captured key SS dossiers.
Beloved dean played key role in the life of Steve Jobs.
Nuclear physicist who influenced space exploration
Pioneer in computer animation
Anthropologist, linguist, ethnobotanist
First Native American student at Reed served as teacher and social worker
“Father of Shaw Island”
Chemist helped develop polio vaccine
Intelligence officer did fieldwork for OSS and CIA
Author, translator, and artist
Inventor whose oscilloscopes played key role in the electronic age
Influential historian of the Pacific Northwest
Visionary designer colored outside the lines.
Photographer, Executive, Mayor of Lake Oswego
Her translation turned Sappho into a modernist icon
Conservationist and wilderness preservationist
Brilliant surgeon, tragic accident
Kinetic Sculptor
