Fellow mourners comforted Win Manning at her husband Rod Manning’s funeral at St Patrick's Catholic Church, Mackay, on Tuesday December 8. Picture: Zizi Averill Rod Manning Former Daily Mercury editor Rod Manning never left home without a notepad and a pen in his breast pocket. During his 17 years in the role, and many years as a reporter before that, he thought of journalism as a "noble pursuit" of truth and justice. "He was a news man," his son John Manning told the people who had gathered to bid the late journalist, historian, mentor, friend, husband, father and brother farewell on December 8.