Jackie Dion (July 19, 1963 – August 24, 2025) passed away at the age of 62 at her residence in Reno, Nevada. A Memorial Service was held to celebrate her life on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 11:00 AM in the Chapel of the Holy Child. In attendance were members of the Reno Church Community and many of her friends from Nevada and California. The service was officiated by Bishop Gene Savoy, Jr. He was assisted by the Right Reverend Father Robert Petrovich, the Reverend Canon Amanda Buchanan, and the Reverend Radheka Patel Savoy. The music was coordinated by the Reverend Mother Elizabeth Reece and the Reverend Michael McIntyre, and the Reverend Stephan Fuelling was videographer and photographer. A reception followed at Bishopstead on Carmel with food prepared by the Reverends Noriko Roy and Radheka Patel Savoy.
Jackie joined The Community in September of 2024 and passed before she had completed her first year of the Academy I Program.
She was a huge supporter of the Steamboat Hot Springs Healing Center and donated a great deal to the 2024 roofing project. She would use the sauna and the baths almost on a daily basis when in Reno. She loved the Sanctuary and sunrise services and always felt very uplifted when she attended. She studied each of the Academy texts in detail, asking many questions. And she felt the techniques were helping her to heal from the many scars from her past.
The Eulogy, delivered by life-long friend Tracy Templeton, recounted Jackie’s life from childhood to her introduction to The Community:
Opening
- Good morning and thank you for coming to Celebrate the life of Jackie Dion, My Lifelong friend & Chosen Sister
How We Met
- How many people are lucky enough to have a best friend for over 50 years? I am, and that’s pretty rare!
- Jackie and I met over 50 years ago at my father’s ranch in San Jose CA – She was 9, and I was 12.
- She rented horses at our ranch and later bought her 1st horse Tumbleweed.
- For many years we rode our horses together every weekend & all summer long from sun-up till sun-down. We became inseparable.
- I did my best to protect her, taught her how to drive in my 69’ Firebird, look like a cool teenager and have fun (good times!).
- We loved like sisters, and we fought like sisters, but we always got through it because we had Mutual Trust & Respect for one another.
- We always had each other’s backs always, even when it was really, really hard.
- Her parents gave me my 1st job at Dysan Corp when I needed it most as a 20-year-old single young mother. That kicked off the start of my career and ultimately secured my owe family’s future – I thanked Norm & Jenny for that whenever I got the chance to see them.
We shared many Adventures
- Jackie loved to travel the world seeing much of Europe, North & South America. We took many of those trips together. Next year we planned to start seeing parts of Asia. That will now have to wait…
- 1 of Jackie’s favorite quotes was, “Not all who wander are lost -They’re just on an adventure.” She loved adventures & making memories.
- She made memories wherever she went and always left an impression.
- We hiked big mountains around the world, skied, scuba dove, kayaked, drove cool cars & motorcycles (she did) and we rode fast horses.
- As teenagers we dated bad boys, grew out of them, married good men and raised children. We mutually loved each other’s children!
- We loved live music & going to concerts. We once attended an after party with the band Lover Boy and slept in the back of her yellow step side chevy truck so we could stay at the party well into the night. That was quite an adventure! She always loved telling people that story!
- My daughter Amy recently introduced her to music from Jelly Roll. Jackie was inspired by his lyrics and loved his story. So, in July I took her to see him for her birthday along with my family. It would turn out to be the last concert we would attend together.
- Over our 5 decades of friendship, we shared lots of laughs, many tears, worked together, traveled and made so many memories that I’ll cherish forever.
- Our bond was stronger than family. We chose to be family and fought for our relationship. She had my back, and I had hers – and I always will. Even though she is gone, I still have her back and will continue to protect her.
Jackie renewed her Faith
- It made me happy when she found her way back to her faith through Bishop Gene’s congregation & his friendship, but mostly because of his genuine friendship.
- This was important to me since I was also her Godmother at her Catholic school confirmation in 1975. This wasn’t typical given our age proximity, but at only 13 years old she chose me to be her God Mother and her parents approved. A few years later I chose her as Godmother to my daughter Amy and later she appointed herself as Godmother to my son Colton and Granddaughter Holly. She loved my children very much, like they were her own children.
- I’m thankful over the past few years she grew to know & love my fiancé Brian & approved of our plans to get married next year = This was a big deal since she thought either of us should ever marry again and wanted me to agree (make a pact) to that – BUT she saw what a good man he is, came to love him too and gave us her blessing.
- I only wish she could be with us on our big day!! But, I know she’ll be there in spirit, watching from a front row seat we will have set aside in her honor with the rest of my/her family.
Jackie was Passionate, Energetic & Wicked Smart!
- She loved adventures and always growing & learning new things.
- She became a voracious reader, enjoyed many sports, Jordan Peterson (who I also took her to see along with my son Colton and Brian), Photography, Sketching, and Journaling ideas of all kinds.
- Jackie was fascinated by the Royal family and admired strong women like Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana & Kate Middleton, who’s pictures and books you can find throughout her home.
- She also loved characters like Rosie the Rivetter & Doctor Seuss.
- Jackie followed politics, economics and enjoyed healthy debates.
- She was a HUGE fan of Elon Musk, Space exploration, and his work with DODG.
- She was a conservative American Patriot who loved her country.
- Jackie had an Infectious laugh, was witty and had very HIGH energy – too much for some people! > Keeping up with her fast paced intellectual mind required patience and lots of energy.
- Her creativity led to restoring her beautiful home here in Reno, building businesses & creating Non-profit charities to help others.
- Animals brought her a lot of joy — her Cats were her babies, they now live with me as she wanted. And she loved horses – both domestic & wild. We were recently working on a plan to help protect the wild horses here in Reno. I hope to follow through with that plan for her.
Her Strength – Jackie was a Survivor!!!!
- She survived childhood illnesses & trauma.
- Jackie battled & beat Cancer, Bells Palsy, Limes decease, divorce challenges, and many other setbacks along her life’s path.
- In 2016 she lost both parents in less then 30 days. Shortly after that she lost her favorite Aunt Claire who she loved so much. These were really hard losses for her and she spent the next 9 years grieving the impact of those losses and some others that followed.
- But with determination she always pulled through, rose above it, and not only survived but thrived.
- Jackie loved thrift shopping with her friend Christopher who she felt was more like a son. He was good to her and she loved him very much. She always preferred to recycle and find good deals, often stating, “1 man’s trash, were her treasures.”
- She was wicked smart, creative and even when coming back from setbacks she bounced back and was unstoppable.
- Jackie was close to my mother whom she admired. My Mom often counseled her when she had struggles. One pieces of advice my mother gave Jackie which she cherished and often quoted throughout her life was, “Jackie remember, you’re as good as any and better than most”. That continually inspired her with confidence.
- It was said to me not long ago by a close friend of hers, “When Jackie was at her best, there weren’t many better”. I couldn’t agree more.
- Even with severe dyslexia Jackie graduated from San Jose State University. Then with tutoring support from our good friend Lisa Taiz, she went on to work on her graduate degree at University of Santa Clara. A very tough school to get into.
- Her 3rd application included a paper she wrote called, “Why I ran away with the carnival & chose to live on the road”. Her Dad did NOT approve, but she did it anyway and this time her “creative & entrepreneurial” approach got her in!
- She studied Economics and would later go on to work for Merrill Lynch where she learned a lot about investing, applied it personally and was very successful at it.
- She always valued & respected money, knowing its benefits and the challenges that came with this responsibility > SO, she respected it, invested wisely, then used it to help others.
- She held many good jobs but was most proud of her personal start-up, Onsite Ergonomics, where she designed custom office furniture to help people stay physically healthy and be more productive.
- But her favorite job was working in risk management at the YMCA. Why? > To save children!
- Do you see a common theme? Helping others was a cornerstone throughout Jackies life.
- Her work helping others, helped her to heal herself by helping others.
Jackie’s generosity seemed endless, sharing her own success with others
- She Gave generously to family, friends and her church.
- She helped people who needed a little help that would make a big difference. Like, providing car loans so they could work or get to school, funding college education so they could pursue their dreams, paying for nursing facilities for elder family members, or, just providing a little extra help to make ends meet.
- She also decided to start a Non-profit and asked me to sit on the board of directors. We called it Mydar: “Make Your Dreams a Reality”.
- Our main mission was to help the Planet, Support families, provide financial support for children who worked hard but needed financial help paying for college, and of course helping to save Animals.
- A few major causes we supported were; Girl Scouts, Saving the Bees, her Church, and saving thousands of families in Ukraine, just to name a few.
- She donated to my son Coltons mission called Help People which led to evacuating families off the front lines saving thousands of innocent lives in the Ukraine. The Founder & CEO of Ukraine’s Help People is here with us today to honor her for her incredible contributions to his country.
- My hope is to continue her legacy of giving in as many of these areas as possible.
Jackie’s has left a Legacy of Giving
- Her work helping others, helped her to heal herself by helping others.
- She called me her hero. We protected each other, challenged each other, set proper boundaries and loved each other without limits even when it was hard, all the way until the very end. So, she was also my hero too.
- Jackie was working hard to be more patient, kind and “unapologetically authentic” and she was doing all 3 very well.
- Jackie is at peace now, dancing like the diva queen she always wanted to be, even though she admitted a childhood illness left her with two left feet – BUT, she danced anyway!
Closing
- Jackie will live on forever in my heart and all the hearts she touched, and there are many, so many more than she even realized.
- When I’m faced with important decisions I ask: WWJD, “What would Jesus do?”, but I now also ask, “What would Jackie do?” It often came with some very good advice. She was wise beyond her years on earth.
- I invite everyone to ask WWJD when it feels appropriate & carry a little piece of Jackie forward with you.
- I will miss Jackie so very much but as my son Colton said, “Life is still beautiful, this is the hard part”
- So, my sister-friend, I will carry on as you would want and expect me to do and I’ll miss you greatly.
- But, I will see you in heaven my friend, and WE WILL dance again!!!
