Martha Ann Geiselhart, née Kattermann, passed away April 17, 2024. She was 86.
Martha was born in Hackensack on Aug. 5, 1937, to August and Ann Kattermann and raised in Ramsey until she was 8, then in Sussex, where her parents purchased land for a farm in the 1940s.
She attended Rider College and taught high school business courses until she married Erwin Geiselhart on June 25, 1960.
Together, they raised four children and owned and operated Merry Acres, a garden center and produce stand on Route 206 in Andover, for 30 years. She canned 250 quarts of tomatoes every year and preserved countless jars of strawberry, blueberry and peach jam in addition to filling the freezer with produce grown on the land.
Martha was a member of Good Shepherd R.C. Church and sang in the choir.
She loved to do crafts, crochet, knit and paint, and she took art lessons after she retired.
She had a sense of wonder and awe for nature and instilled this in her children, taking them on fall foliage rides, combing the beach for shells and rocks in Rhode Island on summer vacations, and lying in the grass finding shapes in the clouds. She also enjoyed bird watching, gardening, and walking the rail trail and around the property.
Martha was predeceased by her husband, Erwin Geiselhart; her brother, Ernest Kattermann; his wife, Catherine; and her son Eric’s wife, Tammy.
She is survived by her daughter, Maria; her sons Karl, Eric, and John and his wife Mary Jo; her grandchildren, Amber Galindo and her husband Luis, Cheryl Freeman, Victoria, Nicolle, Tara, Chiara Geiselhart DiBella, Christopher Geiselhart and Jonathan Brovich; and her great-grandchildren, Gianna Grasso, Camila Galindo, Thomas, McKenna and Riley.
Fond memories and condolences to the family may be offered online at www.smithmccrackenfuneralhome.com