Wilbur Mankin

Wilbur “Pete” Mankin, age 78, of Harvard died early Thursday morning, September 30, 1999, at St. Francis Medical Center in Grand Island.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 A.M., Monday at the United Methodist Church in Giltner. Rev. Dwight DeLaet and Rev. Paul Nauman will officiate. Interment will be in Giltner Cemetery. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 P.M., Sunday at Higby Mortuary.

OBITUARY: WILBUR MANKIN

Wilbur “Pete” Raymond Roy Mankin, the son of Clinton and Trella (Phelps) Mankin, was born at Trumbull, Nebraska on January 3, 1921 and died in Grand Island, Nebraska on September 30, 1999, at the age of 78 years, 8 months and 27 days.

He graduated from Trumbull High School in 1938. He farmed and worked for the railroad before entering the Navy in 1942. He served as an electrician mate 2nd class on the Destroyer Escort USS Stewart and the air craft carrier USS Wasp. He was honorably discharged in 1946 and received a complimentary letter from the aircraft carrier Captain C.W. Switzer for service well performed. After returning home, he followed the wheat harvest with two combines during the summer and worked as a fireman on the railroad on the CB&Q Alliance division during the fall and winter. His enthusiasm for steam engines was somewhat tempered when he found out firing steam engines took a lot of scooping of coal.

On April 4, 1951, he was united in marriage to Mollie Michel Williams at Bellevue, Nebraska. They have resided on a farm south of Giltner where Wilbur has been engaged in farming. He was active in the Giltner community and has served on the Giltner School Board. After his retirement from farming, he enjoyed the hobby of horses, giving brides and grooms rides and driving the horses in many parades. He loved making up poetry and liked to make up fancy verses about his friends.

He was a member of Giltner United Methodist Church and belonged to the VFW in Harvard.

His parents and three brothers preceded him in death.

He is survived by his wife, Mollie of Harvard; two children, Gary Williams and his wife Verla of Aurora and Sharon (Williams) Schmidt and her husband Gilbert of Norman, Oklahoma; eight grandchildren, Kevin Williams of Giltner, Todd Williams of Donipahn, Craig Williams of Seward, Rick Williams of Lincoln, Candace Gaede, Kimberly Armstrong, Robert Schmidt and Christina Burrell: 18 great grandchildren; three sisters, Arlene Pfieffer of Homewood, Alabama, Izone Best of Yorktown, Virginia and Rowena Mannschreck of Lewiston, Idaho; one brother, Blake Mankin of Hastings.