Arlene V. Jennings

Arlene V. Jennings, Scholar, Educator, Genealogist, dies at 85

Born in Topeka, Kansas, 1939, Arlene grew up on her family’s farm, calling in the cows, raising pigs, and began a lifelong love of dogs. Daughter to Dolf and Mildred Jennings, big sister to Margaret (Peggy), Arlene loved spending time in her maternal grandmother Nellie’s home in Burlingame, especially her kitchen where she learned to make one-egg cakes.

She loved her Kansas roots. Farm life and family trips to National Parks inspired a love of nature. She spent summers in Montana acting in summer stock at Montana State University, and had roles as the maid in Angel Street, the ingenue in Picnic, Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Candida in Candida.

She enrolled at University of Montana and discovered a passion for learning languages and majored in French. She immersed herself in summer courses, graduated in three years, then won a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at University of Washington, where she also played Antigone in the French version of Anouilh’s play.

From Washington she received an MA in French Literature, and was a teaching fellow of French in the Department of Romance Languages at University of Michigan. In 1965 she won a Fullbright Fellowship to the University of Bucharest to study Romanian. There she met and married Robert Geis, and they worked together to launch the Biblioteca Americana (The American Library) in Bucharest, the first American cultural center behind the Iron Curtain. Arlene was the Director of Courses and taught English to Romanian teachers of English.

Russian was Arlene’s next linguistic challenge. She and Robert moved to Leningrad, USSR, in 1975 for an assignment at the American Consulate General. There were no opportunities for her to work with the consulate so instead she earned her wings as the Services Representative for Pan American Airways in Leningrad. In 1977 She and Robert divorced and she moved to New York, to continue her work with Pan Am, and a lifelong adventure in the travel industry. She was a flight attendant, purser, supervisor, and manager. In 1983 she joined Inter-Continental Hotels as a manager and later director of training, and moved from Long Island to Manhattan and fell in love with the city.

In 1988 she married Warner Blase Katterhagen, and they enjoyed spending time in Manhattan and a log home in Tyringham, MA with their golden retrievers. In 1990, she founded her company Global Training Solutions, developing courses for clients in cross-cultural effectiveness, customer service, management development, and organizational change.

In her retirement, Arlene became a certified genealogist, and dove into studying many branches of her family tree. She moved to Northampton, Massachusetts in 2015 to be near her daughter and family. She enjoyed time with her kids, making new friends, going to cultural events, and walking in the woods around Fitzgerald Lake, giving treats to the many dogs she met.

Arlene was loved. Married to Michael Evans (1961-65), Robert K. Geis (1966-1977), and Warner Blase Katterhagen (1988-2012). She is survived by her daughter Katherine J. Geis, granddaughter Tess Geis-Benton, son-in-law Douglas Benton, and her sister Margaret Steffel, step daughters Kelly Katterhagen, and Kathleen Katterhagen.

A memorial service will be announced for Spring of 2025.