LEWISTON – Lewiston’s new school will be named Raymond Geiger Elementary, in honor of the former editor of the Farmers’ Almanac, president of Geiger Brothers, and a longtime supporter of Lewiston.

The school on outer College Street will replace Pettingill Elementary. It’s scheduled to open in September 2009.

“It’s right on schedule,” Principal David Bartlett said. “The steel you see will be the gymnasium. That’s going up first. The masons are scheduled to come in soon to do brick work.”

After years of planning the 650-student school, “it’s very exciting to see the steel go up,” Bartlett said. “It makes it feel like it’s real.”

“It’s impressive, agreed School Committee member Norm Prevost, who co-chaired the building committee. The school will be energy efficient with lights and ventilation systems that go off when no one’s in the rooms.

Before the school’s new name was accepted, several others were considered.

A suggestion box at Pettingill asked for ideas, “but there was no overwhelming choice,” Prevost said.

At a meeting held to decide a name, the consensus was to name the school the College Street Elementary. Prevost recommended that to the School Committee.

But member James Handy and others “did not want the school named after a street,” Prevost said. They preferred it be named for a Lewiston resident who contributed to the community, the same as the city’s five other elementary schools.

Member John Butler recommended naming it for Raymond Geiger. The vote was unanimous.

Peter Geiger said naming the school for his father “is a great honor. There’s a wonderful community story behind my father.”

Ray Geiger graduated from Notre Dame University and joined his parents’ Geiger Brothers New Jersey firm in 1932. Ray saw a future in the Farmers’ Almanac, and served as editor for 60 years.

He also served in the Army during World War II in the South Pacific. After the war, he returned to Geiger Brothers.

In 1955, Geiger moved the company from New Jersey to Lewiston. While the company grew (today Geiger employees number more than 500), he did much for the community.

Outgoing, charming and a good talker, Geiger was a chamber of commerce president. At one time he chaired the United Way campaign. “He was an absolute fundraiser for so many organizations,” his son said. He raised money to build a 911 system. “During the ’60s he brought Walter Cronkite to town for the United Way.”

“He loved Lewiston,” Peter Geiger said. “He was always involved in the community. He was very, very passionate and proud of Maine. He was very proud of Lewiston,” even in the ’50s and ’60s “when our self-perception wasn’t as good. … He knew how great Lewiston was.”

Considered a master of publicity, at age 80 Ray Geiger bought a tombstone for himself, then decided to unveil it.

Friends and family gathered at his future grave site to listen to Geiger speak of his gratitude to others. “When he had that adventure, he read a poem that said he’d much rather ‘be with you now than later when I’m dead,'” Peter said. The event “reflected his character.”

Local papers carried a story about how Geiger staged his own funeral. The story was picked by the Associated Press. He died four years later in 1994.

If Ray Geiger knew that a school was being named in his honor, “he’d just smile,” Peter Geiger said. “For once in his life he’d be speechless.”

On line: To see an architect’s sketch of the new school, go to http://www.lewiston.k12.me.us/%7Epettingillweb/