Owen Manning

Owen L. Manning entered this world on July 15th, 1950, in Kingston, Jamaica, to the late Doris
Gillespie. Though challenged with a difficult life in Kingston City, he pulled strength and
ingenuity from his mother, keeping him motivated, focused, and kind as a young man. Like his
mother before him, traveling from the countryside of Jamaica to the big city, Owen would seek a
better life through education, hard work, ingenuity, and sacrifice. He made it his duty to study
and gain a trade mastery certification in Electrical Engineering. With his natural ability to grasp
the technical skill of engineering, Owen's transition into manhood was rewarded with his first
position as an HVAC specialist at Dage Service Limited company in Kingston, Jamaica.
Owen would work there until he migrated to the United States in the 1970s to New York City.
Within a year of arrival, he would acquire all the necessary documentation and experience to
secure gainful employment with top-tier companies and further his experience in the field. The
proud, fearless trailblazer relocated to Florida in 1980, where he purchased a home and would
begin working with one of Florida's best HVAC companies, True Temp. After a decade of service
and a full impartation of knowledge, skills, and abilities, the vision of Island Air Conditioning
Refrigeration and Ice Machines, Inc. was birthed.
Owen, a practical man, used his experience and skill to build the most formidable HVAC business
putting most of his competitors to shame. As the years persisted, he would use his resources to
help everyone he encountered. Owen gave freely of his knowledge, time, skills, and money to
countless people, all the while remaining humble. Owen L. Manning, affectionately known to
many as Chinna, THE BOSS, or THE GENERAL, will be greatly missed by an immeasurable
amount of people. Owen Lloyd Manning leaves to mourn: the love of his life Nicole 'Nikki' Hall;
his son Omar, daughter-in-law Jenise, and granddaughter Joslynn Olivia Starr; stepson Jacob,
and stepdaughter Lexie; a sister Dorothy, three brothers, Horace, Herbert, and Mark; two aunts,
Yvonne and Cola; two uncles, Frank and Louis; cousins: Pauline, Norman, Sonia, Georgia, Dave,
Monique, Danny, and a host of cousins; seven nieces: Karlene, Cheryl, Kim, Wendy, Lorna,
Keisha, and Aimi; two nephews, Christopher and Matthew; and a host of great-nieces, great-
nephews, other relatives, and dear friends.