Jacqueline Maillet O'Rourke

    Jacqueline Maillet O'Rourke, 62 years old, passed away peacefully after a courageous battle with metastatic breast cancer at her home in Columbus, Ohio on March 7, 2026. Jacquie was born January 25, 1964, in Portsmouth, Ohio. She is preceded in death by her father, Chuck Maillet, and Mother, Bea Maillet, and a nephew Charlie Maillet III. She is survived by her spouse of 27 years, Tom O’Rourke, and daughter, Katie O’Rourke, who lives in Columbus, Ohio as well as her sisters Julie Ilhardt in Lincolnton, Georgia and Charlene Counts (Rick) in Las Vegas, Nevada and brother Chip Maillet (Ginger) in Portsmouth, Ohio. In addition, there are a large number of In-Laws, nephews, nieces, and cousins spread around the globe that she will miss dearly.

    Jacquie enjoyed her youth surrounded by family and friends that loved her. She played in the marching band, cheered, and played softball. She was a talented, award-winning actress from performances in Portsmouth High School theater productions as well as in Portsmouth Little Theatre. An opportunity to be an exchange student in high school took her to Orizaba, Mexico that led to a few long trips there in her young adult years. The friendships that she made in Mexico have lasted her lifetime. This allowed her to develop fluency in Spanish, a skill she cherished, and she loved to speak for the rest of her life. That love of a foreign language drove her interest in pursuing and graduating with a bachelor's degree in Global Communications from Ohio University.

    Jacquie loved to travel. She often reminisced about her cross-country trip with family as a 10-year-old. She spent summers going to family reunions on her mother’s side in Virginia, which provided endlessly loved family memories and quality time. Her aforementioned Mexico trips in her youth, honeymoon in Maui, fun trips to Florida, Cancun, Cabo, California, and Maine gave her so much joy. The pinnacle trips in the last couple of years of her life were to Istanbul, London, Paris, and Rome shared with family and friends.

    Jacquie adored her pets throughout life as well. A childhood cat named Ringer was a mischievous soul. Mickey and Mallory were siblings and constant companions to Jacquie for around 20 years before their passing several years ago. Dipper and Mable, who are siblings and were rescued in 2024 as kittens, run wild and free around the house destroying the furniture and drapes much to Jacquie’s chagrin.

    Jacquie enjoyed games of all sorts including blackjack, backgammon, euchre, board games, and poker (which her mother taught her how to play and had the same competitive fire to boot). Jacquie once won a poker tournament at the Rio casino in Las Vegas, Nevada and in the process knocked out her own husband (for gosh sakes!) out of that tournament. Jacquie was fearless at the blackjack table, hitting 16 against a dealer 10 with regularity and with aplomb. She also quickly turned a serious table into one full of joy and camaraderie among total strangers every time she sat down at a casino table. Her joie de vivre was infectious.

    Jacquie worked in the radio business for much of her early adult years. Jacquie’s family owned and operated WIOI in Portsmouth, Ohio. She was a radio host for some of those years, and her tag line was “Jacquie Maillet, your favorite afternoon female DJ.” During her return to Ohio, after a stint in Mexico working for Televisa in Mexico City, she took a position with Shawnee State University working in their housing department. This professional change led her to meet her future spouse, Tom O’Rourke, who was working in a similar capacity at the University of Dayton.

    Jacquie married in 1998 while working for the University of Dayton and then took a position in 2000 at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. She had her daughter, Katie, in 2003. Nurturing and parenting Katie to be the young woman that she is now is easily Jacquie’s greatest achievement in her life.

    In 2009, Jacquie was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. She had a mastectomy and reconstruction to rid the cancer in her body. She and her family returned to Ohio in 2013. Settling in Columbus, she took on social media roles creating content for several commercial organizations (Jacquie would say “don’t believe everything you read on the internet because some like me probably wrote it!”). In 2017, the cancer returned as metastatic breast cancer, and it ensued for over 8 years. She took a chance on life against harsh drugs right up until the very end to have as much time as possible with her family and friends. Her prognosis was 2 years initially, so the grit, determination, and will power meant she got to be there for her family and friends for much longer than thought possible originally. She was so grateful to have that time to see her daughter grow up into young adulthood.

    A celebration of life will take place on June 6, 2026, in Shawnee State Park outside of Portsmouth, Ohio. It was a special place in Jacquie’s life, and we will make it special again for her on that day. More details are to follow at a future date.

    As a friend of Jacquie’s noted, she was “magnetic and magnificent.” Her smile, sense of humor and zest for life was legendary. Jacquie never knew a stranger, and we were all the better for it when she shined her light on us. She will be dearly missed by all that she knew. Rest in Peace Jacquie.

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