Daniel Manning and his wife found their dream home in the Garlic
City
By Deliah Deleon Special to the Dispatch
Gilroy – Daniel Manning and his wife found their dream home and moved to Gilroy eight years ago.
A volunteer math teacher at Morgan Hill Charter School, he is originally from Pittsburgh, Penn., but moved to San Jose, then to Sunnyvale, before they relocated to Gilroy. There, they created a beautiful yard where two of their children were married.
“When we walked back onto the property, I thought ‘your walking on your property,'” said Manning, of the home on Calle Celestina in unincorporated Gilroy. After Manning and his wife left the home that day, he told her he wanted to buy it. Today their home is surrounded with about 200 different types of trees, flowers, and plants.
“We found the ideal country home for us to retire in,” he said.
Manning and his wife spend majority of their time outside in the yard watering, planting and keeping it neat. Their home is a peaceful place where they enjoy the company of their children and grandchildren. Their home also is where two of their children held their weddings. Together Manning and his wife have four children – three girls and a boy – who are all married with their own children and live in the Bay Area.
“We’ve done a lot to this place since we moved here, were really enjoying it,” Manning said.
Manning and his wife met while both were attending Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where Manning earned a degree in mathematics. He worked for IBM for 26 years in San Jose, Palo Alto and in Los Gatos.
“I’ve been moved around but stayed in the same area,” said Manning. He left IBM in 1992 and retired in 1993. However, Manning returned for two years to help with IBM’s Y2K problem.
He loves math and teaches first grade students at the Morgan Hill Charter School, where his daughter teaches, and where two of his grandchildren attend school.
“I love to teach kids math; I love teaching it sporadically,” said Manning, who uses real life examples to help his students understand the subject, such as using methods of fractions as slices of cake, or numbers on a clock.
“Math is all addition, that’s what it’s all about, it’s fun and it’s easy,” he added.
Manning and his wife are satisfied with their decision of moving to Gilroy eight years ago, and plan on making Gilroy their permanent location.
“The thing we love about this city is the people,” he said. “While living in Sunnyvale, we noticed that if we were to go to the same grocery store everyday, at the exact same time of day, no one would recognize you. But here in Gilroy it’s different, everyone here is so kind, so nice, and so friendly, we’ve met so many people.”
