She was born on September 23, 1928 in Grand Rapids, Michigan to her parents, James Anthony Konstant and Athena Vulgaris Konstant. Joan and her family moved to Bel Air in the early 1930s where she later graduated from Bel Air High School in 1945. She attended the Maryland Institute of Art where she pursued her passion in design.
She married Lieutenant Charles “Charlie” Geer in 1957 and headed to Japan to begin her life as a military wife which would lead her across the world. During her 23 years of travel with him, she loved experiencing different cultures and making new life-long friends along the way.
Joan returned to Bel Air in 1980 and began working with her brother, and eventually her son, at the Williamsburg Inn in White Marsh, Maryland. She loved the time she spent at the restaurant where she was surrounded by friends, family, and employees who all adored her. “Miss Joanne” was an integral part of the family business. Her Christmas decorations were a passion, anxiously awaited and enjoyed by all.
Joan will be remembered for her optimistic outlook on life, her generosity, her great sense of humor, her loyalty to her church, and her devotion to her family and friends.
She is survived by her son, David Geer and his fiancée, Susanne McLean; her daughter, Leslie Lawrence and her husband Kent; her sister, Katherine Harlamon of Waterbury, Connecticut; her brother, Gus Konstant of Aberdeen, Maryland and her three beloved grandchildren, James Geer, Claire Lawrence, and Kent Lawrence Jr. She is preceded in death by her loving parents and her brother, Anthony James Konstant.
