Joan C. Manners, 82
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Joan Carlisle Manners, 82, of 99 Longview Terrace died on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, at Williamstown Commons.
Born in Hackensack, N.J., on March 8, 1933, daughter of James T. and Jeannette A. Knott Underwood, late of Haworth, N.J., she was the eldest of three children. She graduated from Dumont (N.J.) High School and attended Westminster Conservatory of Music, majoring in pipe organ and with a minor in piano.
Mrs. Manners was employed for more than 39 years as a secretary in the Mount Greylock Regional School District. She was hired in April 1966 by then Superintendent Gregory Anrig as his secretary, and served the district as secretary to nine superintendents and as administrative secretary to many school committees, retiring July 1, 2005.
She was a member of First Congregational Church in Adams, where she was appointed organist and choir director from 1994 until the time of her death. She had been church and choir member of First Congregational Church of North Adams for 40 years before joining the Adams church. She sang with the Bennington (Vt.) County Choral Society and was a longtime member of the Berkshire County Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, serving on the Executive Committee and as secretary of the Berkshire Chapter.
Her husband, Henry David Manners, whom she married on June 20, 1953, in Haworth, died Feb. 2, 2010. They had moved to Massachusetts in 1956 and lived on Luce Road in Williamstown.
She leaves a son, David Manners and wife, Michelle, of New Ashford; three daughters, Deborah Savage and her husband, Thomas, of Mt. Pleasant, S.C., Donna Brundage and her husband, Kevin, of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Deanne Isherwood and her husband, Gary, of Holden, Maine; a brother, John G. Underwood and his wife, Karen, of Colorado Springs; nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
She was predeceased by her brother James T. Underwood Jr. on Aug. 13, 2003.
FUNERAL NOTICE — A memorial service for Mrs. Manners will be held on May 14 at 11 a.m. from First Congregational Church, 42 Park St., Adams.
Memorial donations may be made to the Organ Fund of First Congregational Church of Adams or to the Berkshire Chapter of the American Guild of Organists Scholarship Fund through Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals, West Chapels, 521 West Main St., North Adams, MA 01247.