Nicolasa Pelle Pe Benito Mancke

Nicolasa Pelle Pe Benito Mancke

Cedar City - Dr. Nicolasa Pelle Pe Benito Mancke (Niki) was born on September 10, 1935, in Bantay, in the province of Ilocos Sur, Philippines. She was the third of eight siblings, consisting of a half-sister, four sisters, and two brothers. She was six years old when Japan invaded her country during World War II.

After the war, her family moved to Quezon City, where she attended the University of the Philippines and graduated magna cum laude in 1957 with a degree in chemical engineering. While there, she cofounded the University of the Philippines KEM Engineers Association with thirteen other students on August 26, 1954. She also founded the women's organization UP Engineering Fra¨ulein in 1956. For some forty years UP Engineering Fra¨ulein lived up to its objectives, which included tackling the challenges of being a female engineering student at a time when women were not fully acknowledged in the field. After graduation, she taught at the UP College of Engineering for a year, then moved to the United States to pursue further studies and earn a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Iowa in 1966.

Niki worked as a research engineer at US Rubber Company and as a research specialist at Dow Chemical Company. Her work involved computer simulations running on mainframes and this sparked an interest in computers.

While at Dow Chemical Company, she met her future husband, Dr. Ralph Mancke, who worked as a chemist. They married December 16, 1970, in Manila and had two children. She was a devoted mother to her daughter and son, guiding them to excel in school, music, and sports, volunteering in their school PTAs, and providing them with many educational opportunities above and beyond public schooling. During this time, she also taught college-level computer programming courses.

She went back to school to earn a master's degree in computer science from the University of Lowell and a certificate in management from Radcliffe College in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She then became a consultant on software development. After retirement, she focused on volunteer work, founding and leading Bible studies in multiple Catholic parishes, singing in a Catholic choir, working in a soup kitchen for the homeless, and serving as a Eucharistic Minister in several hospitals, providing pastoral care and bringing Holy Communion to the sick and dying.

Niki was a devout Catholic with a deep love for God and Santo Niño, the Child Jesus. She had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. She traveled with her children to holy sites such as the city of Jerusalem; the Vatican; Lourdes, France; Fatima, Portugal; and Medjugorje, Bosnia. She regularly visited Marian shrines in the US, especially the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Washington, New Jersey.

She moved to Cedar City, Utah, with her husband in 2017 to be close to her grandchildren. Even as her health declined, she loved visiting with her children and grandchildren, studying the Bible with her husband and parishioners, attending Catholic Mass as often as she could, and praying the rosary.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Ralph G. Mancke; her daughter and daughter-in-law, Lisa Mancke Montague and Abigail Montague, and their four children Brandy Smith, Brook Smith, Misty Smith, and Horace Montague; and her son and daughter-in-law, Dr. Brian D. Mancke and Kristy Tuyen Pham Mancke.

Her Funeral Mass will be at 8:00 am on October 10, 2020, at Christ the King Catholic Church, at 690 S Cove Dr., Cedar City, UT 84720 under the direction of Southern Utah Mortuary. Online condolences can be sent at www.sumortuary.com.

In lieu of flowers we ask that donations be made to Mount Angel Seminary. Founded and sustained by the monks of Mount Angel Abbey, they are the oldest and largest Catholic seminary in the western United States, where Christ the King parish is privileged to send their seminarians. Donations can be made by mailing a check or online.

Abbey Foundation of Oregon

P.O. Box 497

Saint Benedict, OR 97373-0497

https://www.mountangelabbey.org/giving/make-a-gift/