Frederick McManus, 80, native son

Frederick Theodore McManus of Kilmarnock, Va., a Ridgefield native, died Friday, Dec. 19, at Mayfair Assisted Living Center in Kilmarnock.
He was 80 years old and the last of the children of Peter A. and Mary Connolly McManus. His father was a prominent Ridgefield contractor who served six years in the Connecticut legislature and helped draft the State Labor Relations Act.
A native of Ridgefield, Mr. McManus was born in the family homestead on Fairview Avenue on Nov. 4, 1923. He graduated from Ridgefield High School in 1941.
In 1942, while a student at the University of Connecticut, he was at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston the night it caught fire, killing 492 people. He and his date, Ruth Unwin of Ridgefield, escaped through a window.
Soon after, he joined the U.S. Army, serving in the Air Corps during World War II as a communications specialist in the South Pacific.
After the war, Mr. McManus returned to UConn, graduating in 1950. He became a sales representative with U.S. Rubber and later Manhattan Shirt, both based in New York City. He subsequently joined Sears Roebuck and Company as a department manager in Washington, D.C., where he lived for about 30 years.
In 1988 he retired and moved to Kilmarnock where he enjoyed boating and was active in a local theater group.
Mr. McManus is survived by 14 nieces and nephews, including Sheenah Mische and Mark McManus, both of Ridgefield; his sisters-in-law, Patricia McManus of Ridgefield, Augusta McManus of Ridgefield, and Emily McManus of Killingworth; and his brother-in-law, John T. Jones of Ridgefield.
His brothers, James, Richard, and Joseph McManus, and sisters Monica Ustie and Jeanette Jones, died before him.
A memorial Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, Jan. 31, at noon in St. Mary’s Church for both Fred and his sister, Monica, who died on Nov. 29.
Contributions in his memory may be made to Riverside Walter Reed Hospice, P.O. Box 1130, Gloucester, VA 23061.