George was born April 19, 1920, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to George Elmer McGeary, M.D. and Myrl Grace McKinnon McGeary. After attending Washburn High School in Minneapolis and earning a B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Minnesota, George studied medicine at the University of Minnesota, where he met his wife, Elizabeth (Libby) Herbert at a hospital dance. The couple married in 1945, after which George served as a captain in the Army Medical Corps, stationed primarily at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, where the first of their five children was born. In 1948, the McGearys moved to Portland, Oregon, where the family lived on a working five-acre farm in northeast Portland as George practiced general medicine for several years. He then entered a residency program to become a pathologist. In 1957, the family relocated to Bend, where George served as the first full-time pathologist in Central Oregon, in practice primarily at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, while also traveling throughout eastern Oregon to provide pathology services to Redmond, Prineville, Madras, Burns, Lakeview, and John Day hospitals. He was president of Central Oregon Pathology Consultants from 1975 to retiirement in 1985. He was active in medical society affairs and community organizations such as Kiwanis and Elks.
George loved Central Oregon. The family resided for over 40 years on Roanoke Street in Bend, and from this location George explored the western states as a hunter, fisherman, and above all, historian. He loved to travel and made many excursions with Libby to Europe and other parts of the globe, from Antarctica to his last and favorite trip at the age of 80 to the fjords of Norway. At 75, he served as a geologic field assistant in Greece for his daughter, Susie, and at 80, he accompanied his daughter, Betsy, to France on a Northwest Chamber Chorus tour. He was a voracious reader, able to consume books in a single day with uncanny recollection of detail. Among his proudest achievements as a scholar were his articles about early western exploration published in The Journal of Arizona History and a multi-volume history of the McGeary-McGary-McGarey-McGara family in America.
George was a man of eclectic interests, always ready to share his knowledge with others - a human Google before the internet - and quick with a joke. He was a character and above all a storyteller and will be missed by his family, colleagues, and friends.
Preceded in death by his wife of 57 years, Libby, and his daughter Tina, George is survived by his brother Roderick (Fort Myers, FL), children Mike (Washington, DC), Duncan (Bend), Betsy Brockman (Kirkland, WA), Susan (Newark, DE), and grandchildren and step-grandchildren Zachary McGeary, Zoë McGeary, Sam Pool, Mattie Pool, Todd Rouse, Toby Rouse, Max Brockman, Sophia Brockman, Beatina Theopold, Jessica Theopold, Nikolas Theopold, and Karl Theopold.
The family plans to celebrate George's life at a gathering in August, time and location to be announced.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Partners in Care hospice (www.partnersbend.org). Please sign our guest book at www.niswonger-reynolds.com
