On July 3, 20176, the Pennington Borough Council presented a proclamation by the Mayor Anthony Persichilli and Borough Council honoring local resident Lawrence Allen Mansier for his service and accomplishments in this community.
Through his dedicated service and inspired leadership, Mansier (known as “Larry”) proves the adage that “when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade,” further supporting Mansier’s 1947 high school yearbook description: “A good one to follow, a hard one to beat.”
Mansier was born in New Brunswick on June 9, 1930 and educated at Piscataway Grammar School and Highland Park High School, achieving academic excellence in the classroom and athletic achievement on the baseball diamond. Mangier earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Rutgers University in 1952, at which time he joined the U.S. Army and served in Korea. In 1952, Mansier contracted debilitating polio and spent three years recuperating in an iron lung in a hospital in Japan, and Valley Forge Army Hospital and East Orange Veterans Hospital, until discharged in 1955. Following work in New York City from 1955-59, Mansier did his graduate work in English at Rutgers and Seton Hall Universities, beginning his career as an English teacher at Netcong High School in 1962.
Mansier and Madeleine Mary Waters married in 1967 and had a son Lawrence Albert Mansier in 1972, as Larry was embarking on a long and distinguished career from 1966 – 1995 at Princeton High School as an English and film teacher, director of school plays and baseball coach, and Little League baseball coach.
At a time when most retirees slow down, Lawrence Allen Mansier shifted into high gear with an amazing array of volunteer activities including President of the Hopewell Valley Lions Club, a member of Classics Revisited Book Club and the Pennington Presbyterian Church as a member of Session and the Older Adult Committee, while also named 2004 Hopewell Valley Municipal Alliance “Volunteer of the Year,” 2005 “Mercer County Volunteer of the Year,” and in 2007 the Trenton Cyrus Lodge 5 “George Washington Award in Human Development.”
Mansier focused on the needs and wants of Hopewell Valley senior citizens as Chair of the Hopewell Valley Seniors Ad Hoc Committee, in 2004, followed by the creation of the three-community Hopewell Valley Senior Advisory Board, in 2005, which he chaired until his resignation in 2017. Mansier was also instrumental in the creation of the Hopewell Valley Senior Foundation, in 2007.
In 2009, Mansier created “Explorations,” a daytime learning program for seniors citizens offered twice a year by senior volunteer teachers to fill an educational need of older adults.
MercerMe also would like to thank to Larry for all of his dedication and hard work to the community: We are a better, richer, more united community because of your efforts.
