April 19, 1915 – October 17, 2009

John James Manning, the son of Irish immigrants, was born April 19, 1915, at Bridge Creek in Wheeler County, OR to John Joseph and Margaret King Manning. He passed away peacefully October 17, 2009, at Mountain View Hospital in Madras, OR.

John was raised on the family ranch at Bridge Creek and attended a one-room school along with his three sisters and his cousins. After graduating at age 13, from 8th Grade he began boarding school at Columbia Prep High School in Portland. The school, now the University of Portland, overlooks the Willamette River. One of John’s favorite memories was standing on the bluff in 1927, and watching Charles Lindbergh land his ”Spirit of St. Louis” at the Swan Island airport below. His associations with the University, the Holy Cross priests and brothers who taught him, the coaches he played football for and his many family connections to the institution remained an important part of his life.

He graduated from Columbia Prep in 1932. The Great Depression had a dramatic effect on his life and that of the Manning family. The ranch on Bridge Creek was lost and that first summer John and his family lived in a tent in a sheep camp in the Ochocos near Rager. They later moved to The Dalles where John worked as a driver for Wasco County Grain Growers. The family moved to Horseheaven, where John worked alongside his father in the cinnabar mine from 1934 to 1939. In December 1939, the family moved to a ranch near Redmond where John lived, worked and subsequently raised his family over the next 50 years. He moved to Madras in 1995.

On November 25, 1948, at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Redmond, OR, he married Margaret ”Peggy” Leineweber of Portland. They had three children, John King, Mary Elizabeth and Thomas Martin. John was preceded in death by his parents; his son, John who died at the age of 18 months in 1951, and his wife, Peggy in 1985. His sister, Mary Perry died in 2004.

He is survived by two sisters, Elizabeth McCabe of Prineville, and Theresa O’Keeffe of Adel; his daughter, Mary and husband Wilson Lovell of Clive, Alberta; his son, Tom and wife, Barbara of Madras; grandchildren, Kathleen Manning and husband, Scott Alessi of Rocky Hill, NJ, Michael Manning of Portland, Brian Manning of Madras, and Josef Lovell of Clive, Alberta; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. His family and extended family all remember him as a man who worked very hard on the ranch at Redmond. Many of them first learned to drive under his tutelage on a Ford 8N tractor.

He was a member of St. Thomas Catholic Church of Redmond, a member of the Father O’Donovan Council of the Knights of Columbus. He was named State of Oregon Knight of the Year in 1982. John and Peggy were joint recipients of the Bene Merenti Papal Medal awarded by the Vatican in recognition of their service to the Catholic Church. They were charter members of the St. Vincent DePaul Society in Bend. After leaving the ranch he enjoyed many hours volunteering for St. Vincent DePaul. He was a member of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Madras since 1995.

Recitation of the Rosary will be Friday, October 23, at 7:00 pm, at Mass of Christian Burial will be Saturday, October 24, at 10:00 am, at Catholic Church. Burial will be at Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Portland, OR on Monday, October 26, at 2:00 pm.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions in his memory to Building Fund, PO Box 786, Madras, OR 97741, or St. Vincent DePaul Society, Attn: Don Smith, 1616 SW Veterans Way, Redmond, OR 97756.