Jacqueline Eddington

Jacqueline Anderson Eddington, 95, of Rancho Mirage, California, passed away Tuesday May 3, 2022, in Gold River, California.  A memorial service will take place at Walker Mortuary in Morgan, Utah, at 11:00 am on Saturday, June 25, with interment to follow at the South Morgan Cemetery.

Jackie was born September 20, 1926, in Salt Lake City, Utah to Charles Worth and Agnes (White) Anderson.  She graduated from East High School (where she was voted “Most Lovable” in her class) and attended the University of Utah, where she was an active member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority.

In 1950, Jackie met Mark Eddington, the love of her life, and they were married at the Salt Lake City Aviation Club on December 21st of the same year.  They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in 2020, before Mark passed away in May 2021.  Jackie and Mark worked together for many years in various entrepreneurial businesses and settled in San Marino, California in 1966, until retiring to Rancho Mirage.  During their years in San Marino, Jackie and Mark made many great friends through their involvement in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held fond memories of this time in their lives.

Right from the start, when they honeymooned at Sun Valley Ski Resort, they enjoyed many sports together, especially tennis and snow skiing.  Jackie was a great tennis player, and she and Mark were active for many years at the Rancho Las Palmas Tennis Club.  She was also a beautiful skier, and she and Mark and their daughters and their families and longtime Utah friends spent many wonderful trips skiing in Park City, Utah.  Jackie was an avid sports fan, and she and Mark watched baseball, basketball, football, golf and tennis.  She loved the LA Dodgers and the Los Angeles Lakers, and was looking forward to watching the Wimbledon Tennis Championships at the end of June.  In fact, she and her daughter were watching a tennis match on television the night before she passed.  She was also a lifelong Bridge player and met many friends through her many Bridge groups.

Jackie was always active in community and charitable organizations.  She was a member of the Coachella Valley Chapter of the National Alumnae Panhellenic Conference, was active in the Republican Women’s Club, and tutored at a local elementary school.  She and Mark (a WWII Navy Veteran) were very proud and patriotic Americans, and she donated to various U.S. Veteran organizations for decades.

Besides all her other accomplishments, Jackie was a fabulous cook, who loved to entertain her family and friends.  She loved all kinds of music, especially jazz, and could pick out and sing the harmony in any piece of music.  She brought her family up on the big band music of the 1940s, musical theater and opera.  She loved to dance was known as the “Rainbow Girl” in her younger days, as she danced rings around everyone at the Salt Lake Rainbow Club!  Her real passion though, was her love for her family.  She taught her children and grandchildren to be lifelong learners and to be positive, enthusiastic and open to all kinds of people and experiences.  She made family life a joyous adventure!

Jackie was a loving and vibrant force of nature and was much loved by her husband, her daughters and sons in law, grandchildren, great grandchildren, sister and many nieces and nephews.  She is survived by her two daughters and their husbands, Debra and Jeff Cottrell and Nancy and Jim Wedick: her five grandchildren, Chris (Joy) Cottrell, Cory (Chari) Cottrell, Devon (Ginger) Cottrell, Jimmy (Landra) Wedick and Jacqueline (Taylor) Heninger, twelve great grandchildren; and her sister Sally (Neil) Rasmussen.  She was preceded in death by her husband, Mark, her sister, Darlene Erickson, her brother Charles “Bud” Anderson, and her great grandson Joshua Cottrell.

Jackie will be sorely missed for her great laugh, sense of humor, elegant style, compassion, and her gift for making and keeping friends.  She truly liked absolutely everyone!  She once told her daughters that a woman with “real class” is someone who makes everyone in her presence feel comfortable and included and valued.  That was Jackie, a real class act!