Gretchen Schreiner Jackson

Gretchen Schreiner Jackson, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend, passed away at home on April 20, 2026 at the age of 88.

She was born March 20, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, to Alexander and Margaret Lyman Schreiner. At one year old, she moved with her family to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Gretchen grew up in the Mayflower apartments on South Temple. She spent treasured time at the nearby home of her Lyman grandparents, Richard R. and Amy Brown Lyman, and her dear cousin Amy Lyman (later Engar).

She attended Wasatch Elementary, Bryant Junior High, East High, and later the University of Utah, where she earned a degree in Elementary Education.

A gifted musician, Gretchen studied violin from age eight and played for years, cherishing evenings when the family gathered after dinner to make music together. In midlife she took up the piano. She especially loved learning to play the church hymns.

At sixteen, Gretchen embarked on a remarkable seven-month trip to Europe with her mother and friends, studying French and violin in Paris.

Gretchen met her future husband, J. Craig Jackson, in an unlikely place: a University of Utah bowling class. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on August 19, 1959.

They raised their six children in their Michigan Avenue home in Salt Lake City, interrupted by three years in St. Petersburg, Florida in the late 1960’s.

A lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gretchen served in many callings, including Young Women basketball coach, Cub Scout leader, nursery leader, Relief Society president, and music conductor.

Gretchen made friends wherever she went. She joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority in college and rekindled friendships later over “Kappa Bridge.” She was a founding member of the “QQQ” quilting club; its members are some of her dearest friends.

She found great joy in her handwork, especially needlepoint, knitting, and quilting.

An avid bridge player, she took many classes and played throughout her life. She taught most of her children and grandchildren bridge when they were young using a simple curriculum that started with the basics. She loved all games, especially Chinese Checkers, and she nearly always won.

Gretchen and Craig built a cabin near Oakley in the early 1970s, a refuge filled with jars of candy, books, games, walks, and, at Gretchen’s insistence, no telephone.

She adored travel. Whether trips to her children’s homes, travels with her sister, Julianne, a New Zealand adventure after Craig’s retirement, an unforgettable African safari in Kenya for her 80th birthday celebration with children and grandchildren, trips to Mexico with her bridge friends, and weeks at Bear Lake with her quilting club, Gretchen embraced all opportunities to be in fun places with family and dear friends.

Gretchen would often say that her greatest riches were her children. She felt very, very blessed.

We will always remember her infectious laugh and her kitchen ballet. “Point, point, pas de bourrée!”

Gretchen is survived by her six children: Milton (Lori), John (Becky), Brian (Christine), Matthew (Teresa), Margaret Grzybowski (Barry), and Marianne Woodbury (Mike); 17 grandchildren; and her sister, Julianne Johnson. She was preceded in death by her husband, J. Craig Jackson; her brothers, Richard and John Schreiner; and her grandson, Sam Jackson.

The funeral service will be held Thursday, April 23, 2026 at 11:00am at the Bonneville Ward Chapel, 1535 E Bonneview Drive (1040 South), Salt Lake City. Friends may call at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple from 6:00 – 8:00pm Wednesday evening or at the Ward from 9:30 –10:30am Thursday.

For those unable to attend, services will be streamed via Zoom. Please click on the "Watch Services" link above.