s. jo ann geary

50th Jubilee

Sister Jo Ann Geary grew up in Little Flower Parish, Chicago, Illinois, and entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1961 where she was given the name Sister Edward Marie. She studied nursing in California and Missouri before earning a master’s degree as a Family Nurse Practitioner from the Medical College of George in 1977.

In the 1960s and 70s Sister Jo Ann served in the St. Louis Archdiocese at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Nazareth Living Center.

For 25 years, Sister Jo Ann ministered to the dear neighbor in the southeastern United States, proving healthcare to migrant farm workers, the homeless, the working poor and person living with HIV/AIDS in urban and rural clinics, out of the trunk of her car, on mobile units, and in health care centers in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Kentucky.

She returned to St. Louis in 1999 and served at The Women’s Safe House, the Center for Women in Transition and Nazareth Living Center. She also served as the director of health and wellness at the retired Sisters of Mercy facility.

In 2008 she joined the congregational mission to northern Uganda where she continues her practice of primary care at the St. Mauritz Clinic in Gulu. At present, she is on sabaatical back in the states.