Jan Manville

Janice Lou (Short) Manville was born October 5, 1941, in Springfield, Missouri to the late Gorman Short and Vesta Short, the middle daughter of the three beautiful Short sisters. She departed this life to be with our Lord on August 26, 2024. 

Jan was raised in the Ozark Hills of southern Missouri in the small town of Mansfield. Beautiful, smart, and spunky she had no shortage of stories to tell her children. She spoke of meeting the legendary author and pioneer Laura Ingalls Wilder when she was just a small girl, often playing in her front yard while her mother visited with Ms. Wilder on the porch. Perhaps the “Little House” series encouraged her lifelong love of books and reading which carried over to her children as well. The Little House series was also favorite of all her grandchildren. 

 Just as memorable (and more interesting to her two children) was her high school story of her first car, which accidentally had a police interceptor engine in it. This apparently made her the girl to beat on Saturday nights when the other teenagers were doing what teenagers did back then. It’s fair to say that the driving skills she honed in those early days stayed with her into adulthood!

 Driving a fast car, however, was not Jan’s only interest. While in college in August of 1959 Jan met George Manville, who moved to Mansfield from Arkansas to teach Industrial Arts and Mathematics at the Mansfield High School. Jan said she thought George was the most handsome man she had ever seen. Jan did not go unnoticed by George either, however there was a bit of apprehension on his part, as Jan’s father was president of the school board at that time. Being a brand-new teacher in the school, this led to a bit of trepidation on George’s part, but in the end, God’s will for their lives conquered all and they were joined in holy matrimony on August 19, 1961, in her parents’ home. To this union their children, Gwendolyn and Craig, were born. 

 Shortly after their children were born, George transitioned from teaching to working with the Missouri Department of Conservation. In this capacity the young family moved frequently to different locations in southern Missouri. After moving back to the Springfield area in May of 1976, Jan, though quite busy raising two young children, graduated from what was then Southwest Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science in Education. She would eventually earn her master’s in education. 

 It was during these early years that one of Jan’s real joys in life became evident. She absolutely loved to scare people! Family legend has it that she would wait forever in some secluded spot, waiting on George to come home so that she could pounce on him. This ornery streak was probably spurred on by the reaction that dad always had when he was startled: priceless…and quite humorous! However, the family quickly learned that this love of scaring other people did not go both ways! But that’s another story.

Shortly after earning her degree, Jan began a career as an elementary school teacher and ended up working with learning disabled children. In her almost 30 years of teaching, Jan undoubtedly impacted hundreds of children with her unique mix of intelligence, patience, humor, and Godly wisdom. 

In their later years Jan and George moved back to where it all started in Mansfield, MO. Though retired, Jan styed quite busy with church, grandchildren and was always involved with the local theater group the Ozark Mountain Players, that annually performed “Laura’s Memories”, a performance that captured many of Laura Ingles Wilder’s life events. 

 Jan is survived by her two children, Gwendolyn Lawson and husband, Ward, of Marshfield, Missouri, and Craig Manville and wife Saralynn, of Lakeland, Florida; six grandchildren, Avery Lawson, Libbie Lewis (Daniel), Liam Manville (Jessica), Amon Manville (Macey), Levi Manville and Abel Manville; great grandchildren, Izryel Ballard and Benjamin Lewis; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, family and friends.