[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 29 (Friday, February 17, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING DR. JOHN ``JACK'' MANNING

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 17, 2017

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to honor 
the memory of Dr. John ``Jack'' Manning who passed away last week at 
the age of 96.
   A life-long resident of Massachusetts, Jack attended Coyle High 
School in Taunton before enrolling at Boston College and earning his 
Medical Degree from Tufts University. Immediately after his graduation, 
he enlisted in the United States Navy and served aboard six warships 
from 1946 through 1950 as the only doctor.
   When he returned home, he started a family with his beloved wife, 
Lily, and opened a pediatric office in Fall River. While continuing to 
operate his own private practice, Jack volunteered to become the 
Medical Director at a school for children with development 
disabilities. Through nearly 50 years at the school, he never accepted 
a penny for his services. Caring for those children became the cause of 
his life and he continued to fundraise for the school through the end 
of last year.
   More than his professional and community service work, it was his 
love for his wife and his family that always guided him. Shortly after 
opening his pediatric office, Lily contracted paralytic polio. At the 
age of 33, she would never walk again, and Jack would never leave her 
side. After two years in hospitals throughout Massachusetts, Lily 
returned to a renovated home that accommodated her every medical need. 
Together they raised their sons, Jack and Mike.
   A little over a decade ago, when Lily returned to the hospital for 
the last time suffering from pneumonia, Jack was asked how he took care 
of his wife and their boys for so long.
   He replied that, ``Ours is not a sad story. I love her just as much 
today as I ever did, and I know she would have done the exact same 
thing for me.''
   If only we could all be so lucky.
   On behalf of all the children who Dr. Manning treated and all of the 
people he inspired, I extend my thoughts and prayers to his family in 
this difficult time.

                          ____________________