Peter Joseph Manno

Deacon Peter J. Manno, 83, of 871/2 South Main Street Dolgeville, New York, passed away on Sunday, September 29th, 2019 at the Siegenthaler Center, New Hartford, New York after a brief illness.

He was born in Mohawk, New York and raised in Frankfort, New York and was the son of the late, Joseph P. and Jennie (Calamonaci) Manno. After graduation from high school, Peter attended the Latin American Institute in New York City, where he studied French, Spanish, and Italian. He then enlisted in the United States Air Force, on September 7, 1955 and was honorably discharged on September 6, 1959. Peter served four years as a Chinese linguist with the USAF Security Service in the Philippines, Taiwan and Texas.

Upon being discharged, he worked for the Bank of America in New York as a translator, while attending college to obtain his BA in Spanish from CCNY, and his MA from Hunter College. In 1985 after eighteen years as a teacher, Dean of Students and finally Assistant Headmaster at the Highland Prep School in Jamaica Estates, Queens, Peter returned to the Mohawk Valley to teach Spanish and occasionally Chinese in the Ilion School system. In 1992, he was granted a degree as a Teacher of Spanish from the government of Spain, and in 1993 he received a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a summer of studies in California. He remained in the Ilion School district until he retired in 1998.

Peter was ordained a Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church in Albany, in October of 1986. He served faithfully in parishes in Amsterdam, Herkimer, Newport/Middleville and most recently in Dolgeville. He was a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, and at various times served as a volunteer with Hospice, the Homeless and Runaway Youth Program, the Fresh Air Fund, AIDS Community Resources, and on the board of directors of Catholic Family and Community Services of Herkimer County.

For a brief period of time he even worked as a chef in a Utica restaurant. Cooking as a matter of fact, was one of his favorite pastimes, together with traveling and working in his garden.

Deacon Peter is survived by his three sisters and their husbands, Vivian and John Latella, Josephine and Robert Schmidt and Mary Ann and Nicholas Barbuto. His nephews, Edward Schmidt and his wife Rachel, Peter Barbuto and his wife Elizabeth, Mark Barbuto and his wife Jessica and Matthew Barbuto; his nieces, Deborah Ocasio and her husband Julio, Denise Latella, Ann Marie Latella and her husband Joseph and Lauren Kuzara and her husband Brian, several great nieces and nephews. He loved his nieces and nephews very much. He also had hundreds of students from his more than thirty years of teaching whom he considered “his kids” and who will forever and lovingly remember him as “Don Pedro”.

His family would like to sincerely thank the staff at the Siegenthaler Center for their Kindness and compassion. In lieu of flowers please consider memorials to the Hospice & Palliative Care Inc. 4277 Middle Settlement Road New Hartford, NY 13413.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered on Monday October 14th, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. in St. Joseph’s Church, 31 North Helmer Avenue, Dolgeville, New York. The Mass will be concelebrated by Rev. Leo F. Potvin and Rev. Terence Healy, assisted by Deacon James Bower. The rite of committal will be held in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Frankfort, New York following the Mass. For his service to our country, military Honors will be accorded by the United Sates Air Force at the cemetery.

Calling hours are on Sunday, October 13th 2019 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Roberts Funeral Home, 3 East Faville Avenue, Dolgeville, New York 13329, (315-4293144).

To share a remembrance of Deacon Peter, or a message of sympathy to the family please go to www.robertsfuneralcare.com.

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