Donald William Manning , 83
Don Manning died on Feb. 2, 2022, at age 83.
He was born January 13, 1939, in Minneapolis to Melvin and Rose (Weaver) Manning. The family moved to Kalispell in 1945.
Don began working in a bakery at age 9 and continued working there throughout high school. He worked full eight-hour graveyard shifts during his junior and senior years and became an accomplished baker by the time he graduated from Flathead County High School in 1957.
Upon graduation, Don joined the Marine Corps. He served as a plane captain in a Marine fighter squadron in the Philippines and Japan. He also attended the University of Maryland and learned to speak Japanese while in the Marines.
Don married Cathy McCulloch in Kalispell on May 6, 1961. Soon after, they moved to Alaska. Don worked in the bakery business, and they both mined for gold in the summer. Their first child was born in Fairbanks before they moved back to Montana. Don managed bakeries in Kalispell, Troy and Columbia Falls as well as, for a short time, in Ohio. He also owned a donut shop and commercial bakery before he retired from baking in the mid-1970s. By that time, Don and Cathy had four children, two boys and two girls.
Don went back to college for a year and worked for a building contractor and then a masonry contractor to learn the trades before starting his own construction company. Anything he didn’t know, he would hire somebody who did and learned from them.
In 1977, Don and Cathy moved their family to eastern Montana where his company built brick, frame, and log homes. Don developed two large subdivisions and also did commercial work on churches and schools.
They returned to Kalispell in 1987 after Don went back to Alaska in 1986 to mine for gold once again. In the years that followed, he invented and patented a gold machine that collects fine gold. He also researched and wrote three books, publishing two of them. Don was a gifted storyteller who captivated family and friends with his tales of adventure and mystery.
Don and Cathy were married over 50 years, and she was a fantastic artist who painted right up to the day she passed away on Jan. 9, 2012. After losing Cathy, Don volunteered and socialized at the Kalispell Senior Center and loved the whole gang there.
Don was preceded in death by his wife, Cathy; parents, Melvin and Rose Manning; sister, Elaine Blotkamp, and brothers, Ken and Virgil Manning.
He is survived by his sisters, Marlene Garrison, Mary Ann Manning, Jeannie Nelson (Don), and Kathy Nockleby (Paul); his children, Hank Manning (Carol), Ann Kooistra-Manning, Michael P. Manning (Lee Anne), and Janet Edwards; grandchildren, Sean, Mark and Zane Manning, Emily and Lilly Kooistra-Manning, Jason Martin, Audie and Mandie Manning, Travis and Chase Couture, and Hannah and Brennan Carter; and great-grandchildren, Raylan Couture and Hermione Martin.
No services are planned at this time. The family will hold a summer celebration of Don’s life.
Arrangements are under the care of the Buffalo Hill Funeral Home and Crematory.