Sackett, Manley Ray

  General Notes:

He was the fifth child of James Earl Sackett and his wife, Antoinette Hall Sackett. He was born September 1, 1903, at the homestead in Sackett Gulch in Stevens County near the town of Bossburg, Washington. He attended the Larsen school and later, when the family moved to Hungry Hill, the Hungry Hill School which was built with lumber donated from the Sackett Mill. Because their father was ill, and was away for long periods getting treatment, all of the children including Manley, probably had more work and responsibility thrust on them than was good for them. However, things held together until a drought set in during 1916. There was not enough feed for the livestock and it became necessary to move in 1918. The family settled near Mabton, Washington, in the Yakima Valley. Manley entered the eighth grade in Sunnyside, Washington in 1920. When he graduated from the eighth grade he was eighteen years old. He went on through high school earning his keep by working and doing chores for farmers and retired people in the area. In 1924, he transfered to Walla Walla High School from which he was graduated the following year. In 1925, he entered the Washington State College at Pullman, Washington and was graduated in June, 1930. He was granted a fellowship which enabled him to do a year of graduate work in the Sociology Department and was awarded a Master of Arts degree the following year.

In June, 1931, he married Mabel Thomas. From that year until June, 1934, he taught in the Monroe, Washington High School where he taught Chemistry, Physics and Social Studies and also coached football, basketball and track. In September, 1934, he became Executive Secretary of the College YMCA in Pullman, Washington. Because the depression had made it very difficult for many young people to attend college even though they wanted to very badly, Manley took the initiative in establishing a cooperative enterprise which became the Student Cooperative Boarding and Housing Association. This organization acquired several houses in which groups of students could be housed at low cost. Eventually the National Youth Administration was persuaded to build a large structure on the campus and rent it to the Cooperative known as Pine Manor. He also ran an employment agency for students.

In September, 1940, he resigned and enrolled in the College of Education at Stanford University for two quarters and continued on through the summer in the Graduate School at the Washington State College. In August, 1941, he was hired by a private firm for a period of one year to set up occupational guidance procedures for the Commercial Section of the California State Employment Service in Los Angeles, California.

From the spring of 1942 until the summer of 1943, Manley quickly moved through 3 jobs employed in Personnel and Employment departments. The last 2 jobs found him in the Midwest at DeKalb Illinois and then South Bend Indiana. In South Bend while working as a labor negotiator for 3 months, his was life was threatened so when a job offer came along to go back to Los Angeles he eagerly took it.

In Los Angeles, from the summer of 1943 until the fall of 1947, Manley worked a couple of more jobs in Personnel Management and then tried his hand in a business partnership making home furniture. The partnership did not work out so he sold out to his partner. He stayed in Los Angeles another year working short jobs, but the war was over and opportunities had lessened, so he made a clean break of it and moved back to the Northwest.

He joined Spokane School District 81 in 1947 and taught English and history at North Central High School and manual arts at John Rogers High School. Soon the manual arts shop work caused a health conflict so he looked for greener pastures once again.

In Feb 1951 he took a job with the Harris Manufacturing Company in Stockton California doing liaison between the field and the main Engineering Office , but this lasted only one year before the company ran into financial difficulty. In the fall of 1952, he started a Salesman job for a farm equipment dealer in Sprague, Washington which developed into a job as a Shop Supervisor for the dealership. During this time in the shop, he developed and obtained patents for a power steering system and an automatic leveling stabilizer control for the Harris Harvester.

In the spring of 1957, Manley once again saw greener pastures in California and hired on for the second time with the Harris Manufacturing Company of Fresno and Stockton, California as Service Manager, Field Engineer and Salesman. He worked on and off with Harris Manufacturing until his retirement in 1963.

Back in Spokane Manley did some selling of used farm equipment for a couple of years and then Manley and Mabel moved into a smaller house. He remodeling the house and garage and built a photographic lab in the basement and began a hobby of photography.

Manley died Thursday, Feb 23 1989, at Unicrest Convalescent Center in Spokane, Washington.

He received his bachelors and masters degrees in Sociology from Washington State University, where he was a member of the varsity wrestling team and the Gray W. Club.

Mr. Sackett was a member of Phi Delta Kappa education honorary, Scabbard and Blade military organization, Delta Upsilon fraternity and various educational associations.

Survivors include his wife of 57 1/2 hears, Mabel; three sons, Earl Sackett of Spokane, Ray Sackett of Torrance, Calif., and Fred Sackett of Eugene, Ore.; one daughter, Beverly Treibel of Walnut Creed, Calif; two brothers; one sister; nine grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.

Memorial service for Manley R. Sackett, 85, will be at 10:30 a.m. today, at Millwood Presbyterian Church, E8902 Dalton, where he was a member. Thornhill's Chapel of the Valley is in charge of arrangements.


SOURCES:

Portions taken from:

i. ANCESTORS and DESCENDANTS OF FREDERICK PLUMMER SACKETT by Andrew P. Sackett; 1983, PAGE 108

ii. Obituary: MANLEY R. SACKETT, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Washington, Feb. 28, 1989

Manley married Mabel Ruth Thomas, daughter of George Hyde Thomas and Lillian M. Bidstrup, on 21 Jan 1931 in Walla Walla, Walla Walla, Washington, U.S.A. (Mabel Ruth Thomas was born on 19 Sep 1905 in Clifton City, Cooper, Missouri, U.S.A.,⁶⁴ died on 22 Jan 2003 in Spokane, Spokane, Washington, U.S.A. ⁶⁴ and was buried in Spokane Valley, Spokane, Washington, U.S.A..)