Jacqueline "Jackie" Mansen

Jacqueline (Jackie) Mansen, 92, of Rockford, Illinois, passed away peacefully on Friday morning, May 8th, 2026, at Fairhaven Christian Retirement Center.  She was born on August 4th, 1933, in Huntington Park, California, to Joseph and Signa St. Pierre. 

Jackie grew up in Los Angeles and gave her life to Christ as a teenager. She developed a passion for mission work and, in particular, Bible translation and linguistics.  Jackie went to Biola College (now University) and later taught phonetics at the Summer Institute of Linguistics, where she met Skip Firchow, who was one of her students. Skip fell for his teacher, and they got married! Together, they joined Wycliffe Bible Translators to serve the Rotokas people in Papua New Guinea. They began translating the New Testament into the Rotokas language in 1964 and completed it in 1982, making friends among the Rotokas people that lasted a lifetime.

Skip died in 1992, and four years later, Jackie met and married Richard Mansen, another amazing man who was also a Wycliffe translator. Jackie and Rich retired from Wycliffe but continued to travel the world, serving God in various roles that supported the global Bible translation effort. Jackie was a devoted member of First Free Church of Rockford and loved singing worship songs and praying.  Jackie loved helping people, not just in missions, but everywhere. She played guitar and enjoyed cooking, knitting, and cultivating flowers in her garden. Having grown up during World War Two, she had an endless curiosity about the people and stories that emerged from that conflict. Jackie loved watching movies and TV shows with Rich and their circle of friends.

She adopted her second family–Rich’s children–and shared the same interest in and desire for closeness with them as she had with her first family.

Jackie is preceded in death by her husband, Rich, and will be remembered by five children: Kim and Steve, from her first marriage, and David, Valerie, and Debbie, from her second. She will also be remembered by a rowdy mob of grandchildren (15) and great-grandchildren (18), her brother John Flinn, sister Bobbie Sue Dunlap, and myriad relatives and friends.

A memorial service will be held at Fairhaven Christian Retirement Center on Wednesday, June 10th, 2026, at 2:00pm, with visitation starting at 1:30pm.  Daisies are the theme, because they were Jackie’s favorite flower.  Jackie will remain in our hearts forever.

The family gratefully acknowledges the staff at Fairhaven Christian Retirement Center for their professional and exceptionally compassionate care of Jackie.

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