Manuel "Manny" A. Gouveia , 90, passed away into eternal life on Sunday, October 2, 2016, at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, Paterson. Born in Passaic, to the late Manuel and Maria (Araujo) Gouveia, Manny was a lifelong resident of Clifton.

In 1955, he married Helen Van Dongen, also from Clifton, and they enjoyed 44 years together before her passing in 1999. Together they raised three daughters.

While attending Clifton High School Manny was drafted into the Army in WW II. He was a combat veteran who served with the 36th Division, 143rd Regiment, Co. K in Germany. After the war ended, he returned home and attended night school to earn his diploma. Manny was employed as a truck driver and maintenance worker for Howe Richardson Scale Company for over 45 years before his retirement in 1992.

Manny's lifelong passion was sports. He played semi-pro football for various teams around the Clifton area, raced 3/4 midget cars and played softball for his company team. He lost his chance to try out for a professional football team when he broke both wrists in a semi-pro game a week before the tryout. He was also an avid youth football and baseball coach. Involved with Babe Ruth Leagues, Inc., for 61 years, Manny first served as a manager and league officer with the Clifton Babe Ruth League and then as the Northern New Jersey State Commissioner and as an Assistant Middle Atlantic Regional Commissioner. He received numerous awards from local civic groups over the years for his dedication to the youth of Clifton. In 1998, he was elected to the Babe Ruth League Hall of Fame and in 2012, to the newly formed Middle Atlantic Region Hall of Fame.

In addition to his parents and wife, Manny was preceded in death be his daughters Linda Gouveia-Hernandez, Colorado Springs, CO, and Diane Tunbridge, Provo, UT, as well as his sister Mary Correia, Fairfield.
He is survived by his daughter Evelyn Skiendziel and her husband Victor, Clifton; his grandson Jayde Gouveia-Hernandez, Crescent City, FL; his granddaughter Amber Scoggin and her husband Jake, Ramah, CO; and his great grandson Wyatt Scoggin, Ramah, CO. He is survived by his brother Antonio Gouveia of Jackson, and his sister Rosemarie Muller, Woodland Park, as well as many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews. He was a devoted and loving husband, father, brother, grandfather, great grandfather and uncle and he will be very dearly missed.

Family and friends are invited to the viewing on Thursday from 4-8 PM at the Shook Funeral Home, 639 Van Houten Ave., Clifton. The funeral will be held on Friday at 8:45 AM at the funeral home, followed be a Mass of Christian Burial at St. John Kanty RC Church, 49 Speer Ave., Clifton. Interment with the Rite of Committal will follow in East Ridgelawn Cemetery, 255 Main Ave., Clifton.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested a memorial contribution in Manny's memory to the American Cancer Society, 2600 US1 North Brunswick Twp., NJ 08902, or to the Babe Ruth League Alumni Association, 1670 Whitehouse-Mercerville Rd., Hamilton, NJ 08619.