In 1955 the family returned to Chicago, and it was here at Dave finished high school and attend his first year of college. During this year, Dave felt a strong desire to serve the Lord through missions, so at the end of the school year he transferred to Columbia International University where he earned his BA in Biblical Education 3 years later. He also met his future wife, Jackie, at CIU, and found his life mate. She was a year behind him.
Jackie was born in Garberville, California on September 17, 1943. She was the 3rd of 5 children. The kids were all raised in the Sierra foothills above Auburn, CA. and rlived on a small ranch in Greenwood, CA. Jackie came to know the Lord at age 12. In 11th grade she felt the call of misisons, and was later mentored by her pastor, Rev. Lyle Birkey, under Rural and VIllage missions. He helped her locate a place to train: Columbia International University, clear across the country in South Carolina. She worked at a local Ranger Station in Georgetown, CA. each summer to earn tuition money, and eventually graduated from CIU in 1966.
During their years at CIU, Dave attended a Wycliffe prayer group and this sparked his deep interest in translation work. Upon Graduation, he attend SIL school at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, and was accepted into Wycliffe at the end of Summer, 1965. Jackie attended a year later, and was also accepted as a member of Wycliffe. At the end of Summer 1966 Dave and Jackie were married. Within three months, there were in Mexico doing a jungle survival training course in Ixtapa, in the southern State of Chipas, Mexico, living among Tzeltal Indians. They remained in Mexico for 4 months.
After speaking at numerous churches, Dave and Jackie raised enough financial support to head to Papa New Guinea, where they were assigned as a translation team. They settled among the Au people, hidden along the Torricelli Mountain ranges of the Sandaun Province. They learned the language, did literacy and community development, and dedicated a translation of Old Testament stories and the complete New Testament in the Au language in 1983.
The PNG Bible Translation Association invited Dave and Jackie to work with them over the next 11 years. Dave was program coordinator and a translation teacher and consultant during that time. He also began initial training of PNG translation consultants. There are now 12 men who have either completed that training or are still working toward becoming full consultants. Dave has traveled widely in the country helping teams complete their translations and preparing them for publication through checking manuscripts for naturalness, clarity and accuracy.
