Donald Ernest Mansell was born of missionary parents in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he spent the first seven years of his life. His growing up years, from 1930 to 1940, were spent in the Madeira and Azores islands.

In 1941 his parents were appointed missionaries to Mozambique in East Africa. While on the way, via the Philippines, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and three weeks later on December 28, 1941, Don, his parents, and brother Charles were captured by the Japanese in Baguio, Northern Luzon. The family spent the next three years in internment. They were liberated by American forces on February 4, 1945.

Upon his return to the United States, Don enrolled at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California, and graduated in 1949 with a BA in Theology. From 1949 to 1953 he served as a minister in the Northern California Conference. In 1952 he married Vesta West of Placerville, California.

Don has served his Lord and his church in numerous capacities: As missionaries in the Amazon region of Brazil (1953-1958); as pastor of the New Bedford, Portuguese SDA church; as academy bible teacher (Lynwood Academy); as an editor of the SDA Encyclopedia and later as an associate book editor at the Review and Herald Publishing Association; as an assistant secretary of the Ellen G. White Estate; and finally as an associate book editor at Pacific Press^« Publishing Associationùa post he held until retiring in 1988.

Don has written numerous articles over the years, four books, and been the co-compiler or compiler of five others.