Richard T. 'R.T.' Manning Navy Captain
Richard T. "R.T." Manning, 80, a retired Navy captain who served as a
fighter pilot and military liaison officer, died February 11, 2009, at Inova
Mount Vernon [Virginia] Hospital of pulmonary and cardiovascular
complications following bowel surgery.
Capt. Manning, an Alexandria resident, served in the Navy from 1946 to 1977.
His final active-duty assignment was heading the Office of Legislative
Affairs' congressional committee liaison team, which among other things
advocated for budget increases for the Navy. His decorations included the
Bronze Star.
In retirement, he spent four years at Rye (New York) High School to
establish and teach a Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps unit.
Richard Thomas Manning was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and raised in
Washington DC, where he graduated in 1946 from Anacostia High School and was
senior class vice president. He received a bachelor's degree from George
Washington University during his military career.
In 1955, as a young flier based at the Naval Air Station in Miramar, Calif.,
he collided with another plane and had to eject at a dangerously low
altitude.
His marriages to Phoebe Reed, Mary Elizabeth "Betsy" Hall and Florence
Baldiga ended in divorce.
Survivors include a daughter from his first marriage, Laura Johnson of
Silver Spring, Maryland; two sons from his second marriage, Robert Manning
of Stockholm, Sweden, and William Manning of Billings, Montana; five
stepchildren, Susan Zimmerman of Boulder, Colorado, Mark Bayliss of
Annapolis, Maryland, Michael Bayliss of Mason Neck, Virginia, Donna Gearhart
of Winchester, Virginia, and Laurie Wlosinski of Silver City, New Mexico;
two sisters, Jane Manning of Bethesda, Maryland, and Marjorie Pruden of
Valdosta, Georgia; 12 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.