Obituary of Geraldine Laport

Daughter of Vestal and Vesta Snider, Geraldine was born on June 23rd, 1933 on the Edwards family farm in Dobson, NC, and grew up in Highpoint and Fayetteville.

A true Tarheel, Geri proudly graduated with a B.S. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1955, one of the first twenty-seven “Nightingales” admitted to UNC’s then-new school of nursing. She met her future husband, Robert Edmund Laport, when he visited a friend on campus, kicking off a love affair that would last 64 years. They were married on June 11, 1955.

Geri worked as a nurse in various hospitals while Robert served in the air force and earned his business degree. In 1958, they moved to Puerto Rico, where Robert began his international banking career and Geri gave birth to their only child, Elicia. They spent two years living in Buenos Aires before relocating to Brooklyn Heights in New York City in 1963.

Resuming her career, Geri was a pediatric nurse at Long Island College hospital and taught nursing at Staten Island community college, and earned her Master’s Degree in community health from NYU in 1970. Throughout the 70’s, she worked for the city of NY, supervising a Medicare compliance team, and served as a liaison between Blue Cross and city providers like hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Geri and Bob moved back to her beloved Chapel Hill, NC in 1985, where they became active members of the community. Geri worked as a home healthcare nurse in the rural communities nearby, and volunteered extensively for the Ronald McDonald House. She loved to garden and travel, was a “Nifty Niner” at Chapel Hill Country Club, and she and Bob were regulars at UNC football, basketball and women’s soccer games.

Geri is survived by her daughter, Elicia Laport, her son-in-law, Nelson Handel, her grandson, Charlie Handel, her brothers, Richard Snider and Larry Snider, her sister-in-law, Susan Snider, and her Niece and Nephew, Rachel and Robinson Snider.