If pictures were to be painted of Sister Janet Marie, the artist would likely draw her in varied scenes: before a canvas with brush in hand, in the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament, as well as in the kitchen cooking crabapples for jelly. Translated, any accurate portrait of Sister Janet Marie would need to express her large-heartedness, strong convictions, and love of beauty. While she has lived as a religious sister of Saint Cecilia for over 43 years, she doesn’t look over 43 years of age. Her generous joyfulness is manifested in a zeal and energy that has the Eucharist as its source. While art is the gift she has shared as both an artist and teacher, it is the quiet witness of her religious life that has had the greatest impact on others. 

Sister Janet Marie was born into a large, loving family with seven siblings and numerous extended family members. Anyone who knows Nashville is familiar with the Geist family. Strong in spirit and active in their faith, they fostered devotion in the home with regular recitation of the rosary. Through the encouragement of a devoted new pastor, daily Mass was incorporated into the family routine. The children all attended Catholic schools, where Sister Janet Marie was taught by the Dominican Sisters. Over the course of twelve years of contact with the sisters, several of them asked if she had thought about a religious vocation. Her initial response was to brush it off with an affirmative nod of the head. The usual comeback was a sisterly, “Keep thinking about it!” And think about it she did, on dates or at a dance, often at the most inopportune times. By her senior year at St. Cecilia Academy, the thought became a reality. A visit with the Mother General brought her a profound peace and the realization that, while the world was open before her, this was where God wanted her to be. Her decision was confirmed before the Blessed Sacrament; here her vows were taken and her vocation nourished. Throughout the twists and turns of the years that followed, it is Christ’s Real Presence that has been her mainstay. 

Taking her name after the Beloved Apostle and Our Blessed Mother, Sister Janet Marie brought her independent and free-spirited disposition docilely before God. She began teaching at age 19 with 35 first graders and learned much in the process. She laughs at the memory of her second year in the classroom when the the superintendent remarked that she had made “miraculous” improvement! In the years that followed, her teaching assignments brought her to schools in Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio, and Virginia. Her last assignment in the classroom was at Overbrook, our private elementary school, where for 15 years her gifts as both teacher and artist combined to establish an art program of exceptional quality. Her legacy is in the cultivation, encouragement, and instruction of hundreds of young artists who learned about beauty and how to produce it. In her own words, Sister Janet Marie explains, “I love to use the religious art of the great masters to enhance understanding of the truths of the Faith. As I look at the students’ faces studying these masterworks, I recognize that only the Holy Spirit knows what depths they are reaching and what reserves for future needs are being stored. The images can reach deeper than words.” Sister Janet Marie has personal experience of the power of the teaching apostolate to affect lives and, most importantly, the human soul.

Over the past year, Sister Janet Marie has entered a new phase of her religious life in which the example of her docility to the Will of God and dependence on His Eucharistic presence has taken on a new dimension. Her assignment is at the Motherhouse where she performs numerous services for her sisters including art instructions for aspiring novitiate sisters, private lessons for relatives and former students, as well as the production of continued artwork of her own. While she can be seen making the stations of the cross, her greatest gift to the community is the grace with which she carries her own. A diagnosis of cancer has not lessened her inner tranquility and her external zeal. She lives with a focus described by Father Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., in the following way:

Because the crucifixion was Our Lord’s hour, the great hour and the highest point of the whole history, let us look at every moment of our lives in relation to it, that we may be faithful to the grace of the present moment.

I am proud to be a Nashville Dominican. I see myself as a part of something much bigger than myself. It is a community that loves the Church, studying and defending its teachings so as to be faithful to what Christ came to earth to teach us. It’s a joy also to be able to hand these truths on to others through our teaching. Our community is known for its love of the Eucharist, its prayer in common, its warm community spirit, the sisters’ love for each other. This spirit of family love is then shared with those whom the sisters have contact.
      - Sister Janet Marie, O.P.

Update: Sister Janet Marie left for her home in
the fullness of eternity on June 14, 2004