Oliver Manninen

Oliver Onni Manninen, 96, of Waukegan, Illinois, died on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan. Oliver was born December 8, 1913 in Bagley, Michigan and was essentially an orphan after his Finnish mother died when he was five. Raised by an aunt and uncle, he rarely saw his father, a lumberjack. As a boy in the depression, he worked hard to scrape up money by trapping animals and selling pelts, working on farms and in sawmills. He quit school after the 8th grade and began roaming the country, hitching rides on freight cars and being careful to avoid the railroad police. The memory of seeing a family riding on the top of a box car in the cold never left him and shaped his liberal views and was the basis for his political activism. At a dance, he met his future wife. Olga, the woman who would give him the love, home and family he craved. With no jobs available in the "U.P.", they traveled to the Chicago area, chaperoned by a cousin, planning to marry if they found work. They found employment doing "couples work" with Oliver serving as a chauffeur and butler while Olga was the cook and maid. Always frugal, they saved their money to send Oliver to trade school to become a "bumpman" - pounding out dents in cars when cars were still metal. In the late 1950's - early 1060's, he was renown for his artistry "leading in". The "O's", as their children called them, met at a dance and never stopped dancing. They won trophies for ballroom dancing and were equally "light on their feet" at ethnic dances held in long-gone halls. Oliver was active in his union, the International Association of Machinists and served as an officer and regional representative. Later, he reconnected with his Finnish roots and joined the Kaleva, a Finnish fraternal organization. With the assistance of the Finnish embassy, he contacted paternal relatives in Finland and made several trips there - the last in 2005, to celebrate his 90th birthday. Later in life he enjoyed woodworking, reading anything relative to the "U.P.", Finland, or politics and watching Channel 11, Chicago. Concerned about his ailing wife, he was grateful to continue as her caregiver until her death. Unfortunately he did not get his last wish - to drink morning coffee with his Finnish cronies at his sister Sonja's farm. "SISU", a Finnish national rallying cry, means "guts". Oliver had "SISU". Survivors include three children, Eleanor Manninen-Senteney of Beach Park, Illinois, Kathleen Singer of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Charles Manninen of Cincinnati, Ohio; four grandsons, Michael Knop(Debby) of Waukegan, Larry Knop of Bemidji, Minnesota, Benjamin Wilson (Maricarmen) and Daniel Wilson (Cara) of Austin, Texas ; six great-grandchildren Melissa Knop, Lawrence Knop, Kelli Knop, Joseph Knop, Kiran Wilson and Audrey Wilson ; one great-great-granddaughter, Arielle Jones ; and one sister, Sonja Luoma of Saxon, Wisconsin. He was preceded in death by his wife, Olga; and his parents, Charles and Mary Manninen. Visitation will be Monday, August 2, 2010, from 9:00 until 10:00 a.m. at the CONGDON FUNERAL HOME, 3012 Sheridan Road, Zion, where a funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Northshore Garden of Memories, North Chicago, Illinois. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to either the Public Television Station of your choice, or, Salolampi Language Village, Concordia's Language Villages, Concordia College, Bemidji, Minnesota (www.finishlanguagevillage.org) have been suggested.