Sister Geri McPhee, SNDdeN was born in Philadelphia on June 6, 1945. Baptized Geraldine Catherine McPhee, she was the first of two daughters, and her sister, Barbara, was born in 1950.
Sister Geri’s childhood was blessed with the company of a huge and loving Irish family. She recalls that faith, family, and education were the foundation of her family life. Her grandparents were Irish immigrants, and she enjoyed the company of her 16 aunts and uncles and 26 first cousins. Sunday evenings and holidays were always exciting! After watching Bishop Fulton Sheen on television, they all waited for her grandmother to bring out a box of hard candy from under her chair, allowing the children to pick one piece each.
After graduating eighth grade, her family moved to Folsom, Pennsylvania, where she enrolled at Notre Dame High School in Moylan, Pennsylvania. “Starting High School was not easy for me, as my friends from grade school were going to West Catholic High School in the city,” she shares, “while I was in a new neighborhood and new school. “During her junior year, her father passed away, beginning a new, difficult journey for the family. She moved from academic to commercial studies to prepare for the working world.
Sister Geri credits her English class with Sister Francis Joseph, SNDdeN as uplifting and sustaining her through this difficult time. “Sister Francis had great devotion to St. Julie and would begin each class with the hymn ‘Child Apostle of Cuvilly.’ I remember being impressed that a child could be an apostle. I also believe it was here at this time in my life that I began to follow the path St. Julie carved out for me with the Sisters of Notre Dame,” shares Sister Geri. That year, after graduation, she worked, spent time with friends, and contemplated her future.
Finally, her decision was clear, and she entered the congregation in Ilchester, Maryland, on September 13, 1964.
“God has been so very good to me,” reflects Sister Geri, thinking of her first years in ministry, “from the first moment I stepped into the classroom, I was guided by the best of all administrators, Sisters Catherine John, Marie Eleanor (Joan Kerrigan), Mary Teresa Day, Mary Pat Hale, and Julie Marie Gill, SNDdeN.” Her career as an educator brought her to serve at schools throughout Maryland and Washington, D.C. From 1985 until her retirement in 2015, she opened and served as the Director of the St. Jerome Child Center in Hyattsville, Maryland. “Each day, I was blessed to welcome 70 babies, from six weeks to four years of age, into a loving, caring environment. Right now, there are children here whose parents attended the center as babies and grandchildren of my first graders from the ’70s,” she says.
Ever since joining St. Jerome School in Hyattsville, Maryland, as a teacher in 1970, Sister Geri has been blessed to live at St. Jerome for 54 years, commuting to her various ministries. She feels tremendously blessed to have lived and worked with many wonderful Sisters.
Sister Geri is deeply grateful for her teaching experiences. “The children educated by the Sisters at St. Jerome’s grew up knowing God is good. They continually return here and express how grateful they are for the love and education the sisters gave them,” she shares. “I will never be able to thank God enough for all His goodness. I can only pray that I will continue to follow Jesus and say, ‘Let the little children come to me.’”
The passions of Sister Geri’s life are children, animals, music, art and travel and her classrooms were always filled with animals such as hamsters, gerbils, and, of course, rabbits. She loves dogs and has, throughout the years, assisted in finding homes for many abandoned puppies. She has traveled all over the world, from her ancestral home in Ireland to the Swiss Alps, from the Virgin Islands to Namur, Belgium, the birthplace of the Sisters of Notre Dame. Reflecting on a life of service and dedication, Sister Geri shares “The grace of my vocation has allowed me to teach in a community for over five decades. This has given me the opportunity to teach three generations in many subjects. I have especially loved experiencing the wonder and beauty art and music can bring into a child’s world. God indeed has been good to me.”