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DONALD THOMAS GEIGER was born in The Bronx, NY, the youngest son of John William and Elizabeth (Gibbons) Geiger. His family history fueled his desire to be a West Point graduate. His grandparents were Engelbert and Phillipina Geiger, German immigrants who came to America in the early 1870s. They settled in Texas where Engelbert worked as a cabinet maker in Galveston. Don’s father, John (Hans), their youngest child and only son, was born in 1894. In 1915, John was awarded a citation for rescue action during the 1915 hurricane.
Shortly thereafter, Engelbert moved his family to Queens, NY, where son John met Elizabeth Gibbons, daughter of Irish immigrants. John and Elizabeth were married in March 1917, and they had four sons: John, Jr. (1922), twins Richard and Robert (1927), and Donald (1929).
When WWII began, Don’s brother John, Jr., joined the Army Air Corps. He trained as a B-24 navigator and saw action in the South Pacific. Tragically, his aircraft was shot down over Truk Atoll on 29 Mar 1944. The entire crew was lost, and John, Jr., was awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal. The crew is memorialized at Ft. William McKinley in Manila, P.I. Don’s other brothers, twins Richard and Robert, came of age during the war, joined the Navy, and served until the war ended.
Meanwhile, Don had grown into his teens, and the war had indelibly affected his life. Another influence was his uncle William H. (Harry) Tripp, married to Mae Gibbons, Elizabeth’s sister. Harry and Mae become loving mentors to Don. Uncle Harry had been born in Highland Falls in 1888 and was the son of a printing superintendent at the West Point Library, so Don was exposed early to the traditions of cadet life.
To pursue a USMA appointment, Don enrolled in the New York Military Academy (NYMA) for his last two years of high school. At NYMA, he lettered in varsity track and won a gold medal as a member of the mile relay team at the Penn Relays. He also excelled in inter-league football and tennis, winning the Tennis Cup in 1947. In 2003, he was elected posthumously to the NYMA Sports Hall of Fame.
While waiting for an appointment to West Point, Don attended Georgetown University and Hofstra University. Already twenty years old, he was becoming anxious about the future. Sharing his frustration, his mother wrote a letter to their congressman that achieved results. Don and his brother Robert were playing golf, and Don was lining up a putt when a vehicle skidded to a stop alongside the green. The driver hopped out and yelled, “I have a message for Donald Geiger. Your appointment to West Point came through!” Don missed the putt, but, in July 1950, he became a plebe at West Point.
Don’s competitive spirit served him well at the Academy. Academics were not his forte, but he studied diligently. On the track team, he earned a Major “A,” also earning monograms and numerals in cross country and tennis. Don was a devout Catholic and enjoyed singing in the Catholic choir. Perhaps most important, his ceaseless good humor gained him many lifetime friends.
On Graduation Day in June 1954, Don’s childhood dream was complete, and he was justifiably proud. This grandson of immigrant grandparents had achieved something that they could not have imagined.
Don chose Artillery and attended branch school at Ft. Bliss, TX. In February 1955, he was posted to the 550th AAA Battalion at Norfolk, VA, attending Ranger School en route. While with the 550th, he served as battalion S-2, then platoon leader and battery commander.
On 8 Oct 1955, Don married Marianne Bachand of New York in the Most Holy Trinity Chapel at West Point. Of five children born to them, three sons reached adulthood and they now live and work in the New York area. They are Thomas Patrick (born 30 Oct 1956), Robert William (born 12 May 1958), and David Donald (born 16 Feb 1964). When Don and Marianne became parents for the first time, it changed their thinking about the nature of their careers. They decided on a civilian life, where they could live and work near their homes and family members in New York.
Don resigned from the Army in 1957 and began a long, successful civilian career. He was an Army contract engineer with Hazeltine Electronics until 1965, when he started working for Thomson Industries on Long Island. For 30 years, Don worked as an applications engineer and manager of export sales at Thomson, a company specializing in proprietary bearings and motion control medical technology. He repeatedly refused offers of advancement to higher level executive positions because he preferred daily contact with production people. He was regarded as an especially instructive, patient, and extremely capable mentor. Don retired in 1995.
Don married his second wife, Juanita Munoz, in March 1995, and they headed for golfing country, buying their first retirement home in North Carolina. In 2000, wanting to be farther south, they moved to Ocala, FL.
Don and Juanita enjoyed almost eight years of a loving, devoted relationship, full of happiness and mutual respect. She was by his side when he passed away, thankful that he had been part in her life. She recalled, “He could always make me laugh.”
Don’s life was the personification of devotion to God, family, and country. Surely his spirit has “gripped hands with the Long Gray Line of the past,” and it will live forever in the hearts of his family, classmates, and friends.
— Louis L. Bryant ’54, roommate 1951–54
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