Legacy of caring continues

 

Published November 29, 2007
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer

Jason Manse's legacy of caring lives on in the faces of 900 kids at his alma mater.

For the eighth time since he helped start the tradition during his senior year at Canton Central Catholic High School, students at the school, along with 350 preschoolers and kindergartners from the area, spent the day together Friday at Springfest.

The 30-year-old first lieutenant, who flew flyovers over Iraq six months in 2001 and spent six months flying missions at the beginning of the Iraq war, was killed in a training accident in Georgia in January 2006 along with three others.

Manse was student council president in 1993 when the first Springfest was held, said Mary Ann Morrison, student council adviser at the high school.

The event offered the high school students a way to give back to the community, Morrison said.

Manse's wife, Tammy, was pregnant at the time of his death and his son, Griffith Jason Manse, was born in Pensacola, Fla., in July of last year.

Tammy Manse said that in the months since her husband's death she continues to learn more and more about the way he touched people's lives and never knew until Friday about his work to start Springfest.

"He was the purest soul I have ever known," she said.

Manse was fascinated with the movie Top Gun and after graduating in 1993, he went to Duke University where he majored in history and chemistry.

As part of the Navy ROTC program, he spent time on the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier one summer, said his father, Ronald J. Manse, managing partner of Bruner-Cox LLP.

Ronald Manse remembers getting a call from his son the first time he rode with a Navy pilot.

"He said, 'Dad, I found out what I want to do,' " his father said. "I want to be a pilot."

Jason Manse died along with another pilot and two students in a training accident. Manse was an instructor at the time of the accident. The Navy investigation into the accident is still under way.

Ronald Manse said his son was part of the initial "shock and awe" invasion of Iraq and took part in missile attacks, surveillance and refueling activities during his six months in the war.

"They were constantly flying," said Manse. "It was very draining, but at the same time it was very intense. They would fly and sleep and fly and sleep. That's all they did."

His father said his son was someone who always stood up for the underdog and who "befriended the kids people picked on."

Jason Manse had planned to leave the Navy in June 2006 and enter dental school at the University of Florida.

But those plans never materialized. All that is left now are the memories.

There is a plaque in his honor on the grounds at the high school, not too far away from where children waited on Friday to ride horses or play dozens of games and activities.

The plaque's inscription describes him as "a young man who loved his God, his country and his fellow man."

Sophomore Amy Lintner, 16, of Canton, spent the day with 6-year-old Grace Film, a kindergartner from St. Joseph School.

Amy said this event allows the teenagers to be role models for the youngsters and learn "patience and responsibility."