Thelma Manning, nee´ Thelma Moody Cassidy, was born in East Boston, Massachusetts on the 8th of January in 1907, one of three daughters and one son of a landscape architect, Alexander Stuart Cassidy, and his wife, Harriet Harding Cassidy. She passed away on the 11th of February 2010, in Duxbury, Massachusetts, aged 103.
She studied modern dance and physical education in the first graduating class at Boston Bouve´ School (later part of Northeastern University), graduating with a degree in Physical Education. In 1928, she relocated to New York City, where she worked at the Saks department store while studying and performing with the Martha Graham Dance Company.
Thelma married Robert Bingham Manning in August, 1936 after meeting him through his sister, Marjorie. He was an engineer, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, whose expertise in welding and metallurgy earned him recognition for his contribution to the safety of liberty ships during World War II. They had two children – Robert Nickerson (Nick), born in 1938 and Marjorie Harding Prescott, born in 1942.
In the mid-1940s, looking for a quieter, rural lifestyle, the family moved to Castleton, Vermont, where Thelma worked hard to maintain a classic colonial homestead built by Revolutionary War soldier, Noah Hoyt. Her husband founded the Thomson Manning Company to weld railroad rails. Later, he commuted from Castleton to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was an executive of at the A.D. Little Company.
After the death of her husband, still in excellent health, Thelma moved to Cape Cod, to the Heatherwood retirement community, where her husband’s cousin Neal Holland also resided. Later, she moved to the Village at Duxbury to be closer to her daughter Marjorie Prescott.
Thelma’s husband Robert and her daughter Marjorie predeceased her. She is survived by her son, Nick Manning, and his wife Jo, who reside in Miami Beach, Florida; her grandchildren Matthew Manning, his wife Shyamali Ghosh, and her great-grandson Julian Manning, who reside in Coimbatore, India; and by Tracy Manning Winterbotham, her husband Mark, and her great-grandchildren, Zoe, William, Esme, and Lily, who reside in London, England; by Marjorie’s children, grandson, Robert Harding Prescott, and his wife, Dr. Qingping Zou, and her great-grandson, James Zou Prescott, of Halifax, Nova Scotia and Plymouth, England; Grandson, Jonathan James Prescott-Roy and his wife, Joann, of Bedford, Massachusetts.
Thelma Cassidy Manning was a dignified New Englander much loved by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She also leaves many nieces and nephews who will miss her greatly; she is the last of her siblings to pass away.
Omitted.
Click for Map and DirectionsA private memorial will be held at a future time, in Castleton, VT where she will be interred with her husband and daughter. Donations to the Norwell Visiting Nurses Association, 91 Longwater Cir., Norwell, MA 02061 would be appreciated.
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