Jeanne Ackles of Seward formerly of Ord passed away on Monday, December 29, 2025, at Ridgewood Care Center in Seward, Nebraska at the age of 87.
Jeanne Thomsen Ackles was born to Emory and Minnie (Zikmund) Thomsen in Ord, Nebraska. She was the fourth of seven children raised in the Thomsen home in Ord.
Jeanne’s faith was the foundation of her life. As a young girl, Jeanne responded to the good news of salvation which she heard through the Billy Graham ministry. With gratitude, she recounted the story of the day she put her faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on her behalf, and the kindness of a Father who drew a young girl to the radio to hear of His love for her.
Jeanne had a confident trust in Christ’s saving work in her life. This was often a point of conversation, and she repeatedly affirmed her overwhelming thankfulness that Jesus Christ offered Himself for the forgiveness of her sins. This confidence and gratitude compelled her to share the good news of His gospel to hundreds of people throughout her life.
After graduating from Ord high school in 1956, Jeanne was united in marriage to Gary Eugene Ackles on June 12, 1960. Together they raised three daughters, Stephanie, Susanne, and Christina.
As a young woman, Jeanne began sharing the gospel with her own family, including her mother, Minnie, who also put her faith and trust in Jesus as her personal Savior. Her sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends heard the gospel through Jeanne’s faithful and persistent witness.
Most necessarily, Jeanne read the Scriptures to her own daughters, who, each in turn, accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. She was faithful in her witness. She spoke of our great need to respond personally, and it is to her we owe a debt of gratitude for the opportunity to know the reality of Jesus Christ and His redemption.
Ever vigilant in sharing Christ’s gospel, she watched for opportunities to tell friends and strangers that, “there is salvation in no other; for there is no other Name under Heaven given among men, by which we must be saved,” Acts 4:12.
Throughout their life together, Jeanne and Gary led in-home Bible studies and worked in Awana and Vacation Bible School. She was a faithful member of the Gideons International and Concerned Women for America.
Her zeal to honor the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, her Lord and Savior, is now rewarded as she is embraced and can see her Wonderful Savior Jesus and hear His loving, “Welcome Home.”
To her children and grandchildren is left the most beautiful and vital inheritance any Grandmother may leave, an unwavering and fervent faith. From this, she never wavered.
“For everyone that has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.” 1 John 5:4
This victory has been won in Jeanne’s life. The testimony of her unyielding faith in God and the gospel of Jesus Christ is the overarching victory anthem of her life. Not once, though taken through the crucible of worldly trials, did she waver from her absolute and confident trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. She believed His Word, that He came to die on the cross in her place for the payment of her sins, and that He rose again in victory over death.
She believed this by faith and has received the gift of eternal life through Christ. Evidence of her faith was proven in her consistent and intentional telling of the gospel truth to hundreds, young and old.
This theme is also apparent in one of her favorite hymns, There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains. E’er since by faith I saw the stream, Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die.
Consistent with her faith, were her prayers for her family. We cherish the knowledge that our mother prayed for us, and thank the Lord for His answers that have blessed our lives and strengthened our faith. In her last years, caregivers coming into her room would hear, “I will pray for you.” This she faithfully did, as she lifted these souls to God in prayer.
Her prayers testified to her trust in her Heavenly Father’s desire that none should perish, but all come to salvation. She honored her Savior by her solidarity with Him in this desire, and she was deeply grateful for the sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ made on her behalf.
Jeanne will be deeply missed by her children, Stephanie (John) Campbell, and her grandchildren, Chloe, Tess, Gracie and Tait of Wilmot, SD, Susanne (Brant) Taylor and grandsons Brittan and Brennan of Seward, NE. and Christina (Ben) Catlett and granddaughters, Hope and Lillie of Windsor, CO; her sister, Ruth Smith of Ord, NE and brother, Dale (Pam) Thomsen of Burwell, NE.
She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Gary; sisters, Eileen Hoeppner, Virginia Kokes and Carolyn Hayek and brother, Larry Thomsen.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 10, 2026, at the Christian Church in Ord, Nebraska. Pastor Doug Durre will officiate. Visitation will be held on Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Ord Memorial Chapel. Interment will be in the Ord City Cemetery. Memorials are suggested to Gideons International and Billy Graham International Evangelical Association. Ord Memorial Chapel is assisting with the arrangements. Online condolences may be left at www.ordmemorialchapel.com
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