Barbara Johnson Geller

Barbara Johnson Geller passed from this life on January 12, 2018 after an extraordinary battle with metastatic breast cancer.

Barbara grew up in Two Harbors, Minnesota, a small town where she roamed freely and reveled in picking cowslips and bluebell bouquets for her mother, playing Indians in the woods, watching water skimmers in the pond, and listening to the waves of Lake Superior crash on shore. That love for the outdoors eventually brought her to Montana.

First, though, she graduated from Stephens College, Columbia, MO, with majors in Business Administration, French and Spanish. After working for Monsanto as an internal auditor for a few years, she married Charles Geller, and they began a series of moves around the country, first to Fort Carson, CO where she obtained an M.B.A. in Marketing at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, then Chicago, the St. Louis area, Atlanta, and Dallas. During those years, she worked in marketing in the telecom and software industries, first for MCI and GTE, then for several startup companies. Finally, after her first bout with breast cancer in 2005, she stopped working and became active with the Coppell Gifted Association, a local group for parents of gifted children. After the high school graduation of her two children, she and Chuck moved to Bozeman to enjoy a college town with a ski resort and all it has to offer.

Barbara was an active member of the Bozeman Women’s Activity Group, hiking or biking several days a week. She also guided Wilderness Walks and served on the local chapter board of Montana Wilderness Association (MWA) as well as on the Montana Association for Gifted and Talented Education’s state board. She loved to be out of doors to explore new places in Montana and share that information via MWA’s online hiking guide, www.hikewildmontana.org. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her name can be made to the MWA.

In addition to her husband, Barbara is survived by her two children Christina & Jack; her mother Phlaine Johnson; and 3 siblings Cindy, Mark, and Terry Johnson.

While we're all heartbroken, we can take solace in the assurance that she's already at work discovering new trails and planning hikes for her friends and family when we all meet again. A celebration of life is planned for later this summer.