Mary "Jackie" Younker

Jackie Younker was a selfless and generous woman to know and love. She modeled a life rich with hard work, putting others first, and being an exceptionally loving wife, mother, and grandmother. Her warm personality, cheerful demeanor, and infectious smile will forever be remembered by her many special friends and loved ones.

Mary Jacqueline was welcomed to the world on December 18, 1936, in South Haven, Michigan, by her mother, Mabel Lucile Roper and her father Harry Rimbach Roper. She was the third of four children: Harry, George, Jackie, David. Her birth brought much happiness to the family home.

Jackie lived a typical childhood of the times. She and her family moved to Hammond, Indiana, in 1940 and into her childhood home at 840 Carroll Street. She attended the local schools and completed her studies at Hammond Technical High School with a focus on secretarial/office worker studies. She enjoyed her high school years cheering for the Tech Tigers and being with her friends. Jackie graduated in February 1955. She and her brothers and mom and dad took several camping trips to Pullman, Michigan, tenting on Springbrook Lake. During those trips many other relatives would visit to spend time with them. Jackie would row the boat while her brothers spent the day fishing. Eventually they got a motor to power the boat, and her rowing days were done. The boys may have been tired of telling her how and where to row. In the fall of 1953, while still in high school, she met the love of her life, Glen. During their courtship their romance blossomed, and marriage was inevitable! However, there were some stipulations before they were to get married. First, Glen told Jackie she needed to graduate from high school and second, he would build a house for her. The stipulations were met and the happy couple joined in marriage on April 2, 1955, at First Christian Church. They had their romantic honeymoon in Williamsburg, Virginia. Together, they raised seven wonderful children: Tonnie, Keith, Cindy, Kevin, Kenny, Kerry, and Kelly at the house they built in Dyer, Indiana at 515 214th Street.

Jackie relished her role as a mother. She was proud to stay home to raise the kids and enjoyed teaching them the duties of daily living, from cleaning and completing homework to shopping and ordering out at restaurants. Jackie wanted them to have proper manners, so she would practice these skills at home on Friday evenings. She would prepare a fancy meal and review how to use their utensils and pass dishes. The kids grew accustomed to her waking them up for school with the intercom system in the house or blaring music to get them going! She was a very active parent and helped the kids with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and all the extracurricular activities with band and sports. Jackie, with her loving and caring spirit, became a second mom to many of the children’s friends. Jackie opened her house to all family and friends and there was always room at the dinner table for whoever was around. She was a wonderful hostess; she knew how to have a good time and keep everyone entertained. Jackie wanted nothing more than for her kids to have a life filled with love and caring and positive memories.

She and Glen modeled a fun-loving relationship for their family. She was known to play tricks on Glen, like spraying him with the hose from the sink or chasing him around the house with a bucket of water! There were many fun times when they were together. Over the years, they enjoyed square dancing and bowling together as well as taking road trips with family and friends. The family enjoyed long road trips to multiple state parks, including Turkey Run, McCormick Creek, and Clifty State Park. The family played numerous card games together of Cribbage, International Rummy, Tripoley and many others. They also played countless board games of Sorry, Monopoly, Scrabble and many others. There was always some kind of game or activity going on with the Younker Family. Another family tradition was spending time at the family cottage in Decatur, MI. As a family, they spent numerous days over the summer months at the cottage. Jackie’s favorite time was hosting all the grandkids over the Fourth of July at the cottage. It was her special time with all the grandkids as they grew up. She loved to just break into a song whenever she felt like it and shared her love of music with her grandchildren whether they wanted to hear it or not. Sometimes they would join in. Her family will always cherish her spirit of having fun and enjoying what life has to offer in the moment.

In Jackie and Glen’s retirement years they liked to travel. They enjoyed trips to Las Vegas for the slot machines, spending the cold winter months in Florida, and traveling to visit family and friends all over the country. Even when they traveled, they managed to make family their priority and made time to visit their children and their grandkids and other relatives that were along their travel path. Family life with aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews was very important to Jackie. So much so that she organized a couple of very large family reunions in 2000 and 2010. She and her children worked together to assemble the Roper/Levine family reunions that gathered over 200 people! Jackie always loved spending time with her extended family and looked forward to making memories together.

When it came to her later years, Jackie remained active. She enjoyed gardening and tending to her flower beds. She also loved jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, cryptograms, and was a voracious reader. Social and outgoing, Jackie met regularly for lunch with her lifelong friends. Some of them she had known since kindergarten, and others from her high school days! One of her favorite things to do was to work on her family genealogy. She would spend hours and hours canvassing census records, Ancestory.com, old family photos, old family notes all in the effort of putting the puzzle together of her family tree. Using her creative writing skills and storytelling she made a 150-page booklet of her family history which took you back in time. She was very proud of it and shared copies at the 2010 reunion.

Jackie left a legacy of unconditional love through many small acts of kindness and great sacrifice. She was a wonderful hugger and rarely missed an opportunity to give a hug or steal a hug. Her compassion for others, her spirit of adventure, and her delightful sense of humor will be dearly missed. May her loved ones reflect on her life with great happiness, and may they honor her life by always looking for the good in others.

Mary Jacqueline (Jackie) Younker went to be with our Lord and Savior Saturday, June 21, 2025. Jackie was preceded in death by her parents Harry Rimbach Roper and Mabel Lucille Roper. Her husband of 68 years, Glen Edward Younker. Brothers, Harry (Lucille) Roper, George Roper, and David Roper. She is survived by her sisters-in-law, Karen Roper and Wanda Roper.

She is also survived by her children Tonnie Pahl, Keith (Donna) Younker, Cindy Bielak, Kevin (KarRon) Younker, Kenneth (Lori) Younker, Kerry (Patty) Younker, Kelly (Terry) Younker; 14 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and 9 great-great-grandchildren.

Join the family in celebrating Jackie at a visitation and sharing of life stories on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, from 5-8 PM at Smits Funeral Home, 2121 Pleasant Springs Lane, Dyer, IN 46311. Family and friends are also invited to an additional visitation on Wednesday July 2, 2025, from 10-11 am. Funeral service will begin at 11 AM on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, at Smits Funeral Home. The interment will be at Skyline Memorial Park, Monee, IL.

Contributions in her memory may be made to the charity of your choice or Corewell Health Hospice. Please visit www.heritagelifestory.com to submit a favorite memory, or photo or to sign the guestbook online.