Kathleen Mae Manning

Kathleen was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, to Peter and Teresa Rauth on March 25, 1942. Her father was a lithographer; her mother was a homemaker. Kathleen was the younger of two daughters, the older being Pat Schmidt.

Kathleen attended York High School in Elmhurst and was very active in clubs and gymnastics. Being a strong student, she earned a National Merit Scholarship Commendation. It was in high school and at the Elmhurst Community Pool, where she was a lifeguard during the summers, that Kathleen met her future husband, Carl Alan Manning.

After graduating from high school, Kathleen attended the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, graduating with a degree in social studies. She was a member of the synchronized swimming team during her freshman year. Kathleen became a member of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority and made many lifelong friends during her college years. Some of these sorority sisters also ended up in the Seattle area after college and became de facto relatives, with the families spending many holidays together. Her courtship with Carl Manning continued at the University of Illinois. Kathleen spent a year teaching at Newman Community Unit High School, and then she and Carl got married.

Carl Alan was accepted into the master’s program in physics at the University of Washington. He and Kathleen moved out west and lived in an apartment in the Ravenna area of Seattle while Carl was at UW. Kathleen worked in the city of Seattle as a social worker for the Department of Social and Health Services. After UW, Carl got a job as a physics professor at Saint Martin's College, which brought them to Lacey, Washington, where they purchased their first home in the Thompson Place neighborhood.

Carl Peter was born in September of 1969, and Kathleen settled into motherhood and homemaking. Patrick Craig was born in 1972. Around this time, Kathleen was developing an interest in political activism. Amongst Carl Peter’s earliest memories of television are his mom giving him a very brief explanation of Watergate.

In the mid-'70s, Kathleen wanted to move into the city of Olympia, and the family moved to a house in the South Capitol neighborhood. Kathleen became very politically active with the Thurston County Democrats around this time, culminating in a trip as a delegate to the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. Her daughter, Anna Kathleen, was born in July 1978. Kathleen helping run the Democrats’ Lakefair burger booth and hosting Lakefair parade parties were annual events during these years. Always busy, Kathleen also played on local women’s soccer teams, earned a mathematics teaching certificate from Saint Martin's College, and began teaching math in public schools. A few years were spent teaching in Hoquiam, requiring a very early morning vanpool ride each school day. Kathleen subsequently spent many years teaching math at Tumwater Middle School, assisting with the track team and coaching the girls' soccer team there.

Kathleen always enjoyed having dogs and taking trips to the ocean and Mount Rainier with her family. Mount Rainier was very dear to her. Family trips to Paradise for sledding and summer camping trips to Cougar Rock Campground were always very special and were yearly events when her kids were younger. In the summer of 1984, driving a Volkswagen van, Kathleen and Carl took their three kids on a cross-country road trip to Illinois to visit relatives and then on to the East Coast to visit New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and points in between. When not staying with relatives or friends, the family stayed in KOA campgrounds; it was quite the adventure. Another much-loved event was attending several World Cup games at Soldier Field in Chicago in the summer of 1994.

After her husband Carl’s passing in 2016, Kathleen enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren, taking road trips in her car, attending church, visiting her friends, and attending various reunions in the Chicago area. Kathleen was a Seattle Reign season ticket holder for their inaugural seasons, of which she was very proud.

Kathleen suffered a major stroke in September of 2021, paralyzing her right side and affecting the speech center in her brain. She was in a wheelchair and could say a few words but was unable to form sentences. She was, however, able to understand most of what was being said to her. While this was frustrating, Kathleen kept her spirits up with her faith in God, coloring many pictures and keeping abreast of the activities of her family, especially her grandchildren. The family is very thankful for the care she received from Hilary and Susan Njoroge of Glory Morning AFH in Puyallup, and to John Charles AFH in Olympia, where she spent her final weeks.

Kathleen passed away in Olympia on January 25, 2026. Kathleen loved her family very much. Kathleen’s family misses her very, very much. She is survived by her three children: Carl Peter, Patrick Craig, and Anna Kathleen; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.