Catherine Whalen Manning (1865 - 1937)

MANNING, WHALEN, BYRNE, MOOTZ, COOPER

Posted By: M. J. Fitzgerald (email)
Date: 10/11/2009 at 18:01:52

Catherine Whalen Manning died April 29, 1937. Obituary in the Allamakee Journal of May 3, 1937, reads:

Mrs. Catherine T. Manning, Lafayette Twp. Pioneer Dies Last Thursday

After an illness of several weeks’ duration, which was really her first sickness of any consequence, Mrs. Catherine Manning passed away at 7:45 a.m. Thursday, April 29, at her home in Lafayette township, this date being the 48th anniversary of her wedding. All that medical care and the services of trained nurse Juliet Reed could do to assist the family in her last sickness, was done to prolong her life, but to no avail.

Catherine Theresa Whalen was born at Lansing, Nov. 11, 1865, being the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kern Whalen, Lafayette pioneers, both long since called to their eternal reward. On April 29, 1889, at I. C. church, Lansing, she was married to Michael Manning, Father Haxmeier officiating at their wedding. To them were born five sons: Joseph, Lansing; William, at home; Kern, Merrill, Wis.; two other sons, Thomas and Leo, dying during the flu epidemic in 1918 only six days apart. Her husband preceded her in death Dec. 12, 1915.

She is also survived by four brother: Kern of Oklee, Minn.; William, Milwaukee; and Joseph and George, Lansing; and three sisters: Mrs. Frances Byrne, Lansing; Mrs. Gus Mootz, Merrill, Wis., and Mrs. Herbert Cooper, Dubuque. Two brothers and two sisters also preceded her in death.

Thus ends another well spent Christian life. Unassuming and modest, a true Catholic wife and mother, Mrs. Manning devoted her entire life to the service of her family, her friends and her church, of which she had been a faithful member for life, and died fortified by all its last solemn rites. As a neighbor and friend, she was kind, charitable and generous to a fault, and the esteem in which she was held by all who know her was testified to more strongly than can words by the crowds of sorrowing friends and neighbors who thronged the home to offer aid and sympathy during the time of bereavement, and the huge turnout at the funeral Saturday, all in spite of bad weather and road conditions.

The funeral services were held May 1st at 10 o’clock a.m. at the old Wexford church, the pastor Rev. D. O’ Sullivan officiating at the Requiem Mass and preaching a consoling and instructive sermon. Following the blessing at the graveside, interment was made in the family lot nearby, where sleep her loved ones gone before. Casket bearers were Ben Kelleher, Thomas Kelleher, Matt Guider, Joseph Whalen, Frank Murphy and Eugene Brennan.

Out of town relatives who attended the funeral were: Mr. and Mrs. Mootz, Mr. and Mrs. Kern Manning, Merrill, Wis.; Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Cooper and daughter Mary, Dubuque; William Whalen, Milwaukee.