A Tribute to Maurice and Rocky

A special person. A special horse.

Nearly everyone knows about Rocky the Horse, the friendly animal that lives on the corner of Orange and Union streets in Montclair. His owner, Maurice Mannion-Vanover, was even more outgoing and always smiling outside in his yard. Maurice, known to loved ones as Mo, died suddenly on January 14. He was 20 years old.

Maurice’s story is modern and epic. He was abandoned by his father and drug-addicted mother in Washington, D.C., when he was six months old. He was HIV positive with several serious development issues. He had a twin sister who passed away at 20 months of age.

At 3, Maurice was adopted by a couple that requested a child with medical needs. Tim Mannion and Tim Vanover brought Maurice home through the foster care system in 1993. They went on to become the first gay couple in D.C. to adopt in 1997. At first, they were told Maurice had six months to live. “We’d cry at night thinking we were going to lose him,” Vanover said. But under Mannion and Vanover’s care, their son’s health improved. Maurice reached childhood milestones like getting his own bed and sliding down the stairs on his backside for fun. Maurice beat all odds.

When the family moved to Montclair in 1998, Maurice became interested in horses. Vanover, who works for the Episcopalian Pension Fund in Montclair, rode horses when he was a kid in Goshen, Indiana. Maurice adamantly wanted to ride, so his dads took him to Essex Equestrian Center in West Orange. When lesson prices started to add up, they decided to surprise Maurice with his own horse. After all, their house sat on a double corner lot with an old stable in the back. On Christmas Eve of 2002, Rocky arrived. Maurice was 12.

Maurice was a natural on the horse, getting the animal to canter easily. Maurice was elated about Rocky, and the two of them were fast friends. “They were like one,” Vanover said. Maurice’s studies even improved, and he became very good at science and biology. He attended Northeast Elementary School, where he was in special ed and inclusion classes. He was also an alumni of Nishuane, Mt. Hebron and Shepard Academy in Livingston. At the time of his passing, Maurice was enrolled in a transition program at Montclair High School where he was studying to be an elementary school teacher’s aide. As part of his schooling, he worked at the Developmental Learning Center at the Montclair Community Pre-K. Maurice would have graduated in 2012. He was working toward living independently and dreamed of having his own apartment. He wanted to be in Montclair, near Rocky, of course.

In the course of his life, Maurice’s health had ups and downs. In 1998, he contracted pneumonia and suffered a heart attack. Maurice heard the doctors say he wasn’t coming home, and he replied, “I’m going to fight you.” He did. He went back to his family: his dads, his adopted older brother Kindoo, his horse and his dogs and cat. Within six months, Maurice had fully recovered.

He had a passion for karate and achieved his first degree black belt on December 14, 2010. He loved his iPod, which Mannion, a business analyst at Citigroup, said was attached to his head. Maurice loved Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Beyonce and Bach. He was asking for a song from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the day he died.

Maurice had been a healthy 5 foot 10 and 195 pounds when he went to Toronto just before Christmas. Vanover was taking him to see Maurice’s second family that included Vanover’s new partner. (Vanover and Mannion split in 2003 but lived in separate quarters in their Montclair house for the sake of their boys.) Maurice had a beloved dog named Hunter in Toronto. On December 29, just before he was scheduled to come back home to Montclair, Maurice came down with a mysterious fever and was rushed to the hospital. Mannion immediately got on a plane to be with Maurice and the rest of the family. Maurice had double pneumonia, sepsis and renal failure. He was intubated and on a ventilator. Doctors were stunned that his health declined so quickly.

After several days in the hospital, Maurice told Mannion, “Daddy, it’s time. The clock is ticking.” The boy said the same thing to the nurses. “It’s time. It’s time.” Maurice died a few moments later.

That night in Toronto, his dog Hunter, a chocolate Lab, walked into the hall parlor by himself and passed away over night. “We are holding onto it,” Mannion said. To make it all make sense, he and Vanover believe their son and his dog are together.

A few days later, Mannion and Vanover came back to Montclair and started planning arrangements. They told Rocky that Maurice wasn’t coming home. The horse coughed, making an agonizing noise. “His eyes were closed,” Mannion said. “He looked like he was grieving.” Vanover and Mannion will continue to take care of Rocky, and so will Kindoo, now 28, when he is home. Kindoo currently lives in The Netherlands with his fiancee. Rocky is the “community horse,” Mannion said. They plan to keep him for the foreseeable future–for the town and for the memory of Maurice.

“Life is unexpected,” Vanover said. “We never expected a child like Maurice.”

For friends and family to pay respects, visitation will be tonight, Friday, at 7 to 9 p.m. at Moriarty Funeral Home at 76 Park Street. The funeral will be on Saturday at 2 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church at 73 S. Fullerton in Montclair. There was also a service in New York City this morning at 9 a.m. Vanover and Mannion expect a crowd, as people from all over the world have reached out to them during the course of Maurice’s illness. St. Luke’s holds 550 people, and they expect the church to be filled.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: The Lake Logan Episcopal Center, 154 Suncrest Mill Road, Canton, N.C. 28716, or to The Shepard Schools, 10 Columba St., Morristown, N.J. 07960. Please indicate that your donation is for the Maurice Mannion-Vanover Scholarship Fund.