Jayne Woodruff Obituary

Jayne Woodruff passed away peacefully in her home on Saturday, July 5th in Kaysville, Utah. She was surrounded by love as she began her next adventure.

Jayne was born and raised in North Las Vegas, NV, where she was the fourth of seven children. Education, her faith in Jesus Christ, and the beauty of the natural world were some of Jayne’s passions. Jayne graduated from Brigham Young University in 1970, pursued a PhD in education at Ohio State University, and was an elementary school teacher in the Salt Lake City School District for over 20 years. She spent the majority of her career at Beacon Heights Elementary School. Jayne was a dedicated teacher whose students (and their families) adored her. From March 2023 to March 2024, Jayne fulfilled a lifelong dream by serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Dallas-Fort Worth Texas Mission, where she shared her love of Jesus Christ.

Jayne adored literature, history, art, music, the natural beauty of the world, and her children. Books were always plentiful in Jayne’s home, as was music, art, and history. She was a devoted and admirably determined mother who adored her four children. She wanted the world for her family and worked hard to give it to them. Jayne regularly shared her love of nature with her children, raising them in the foothills of the Wasatch mountains, taking them on countless hikes along the Wasatch front and summer vacations at Zion National Park, where Jayne spent many of her childhood summers. Jayne had an adventurous spirit, traveling to Asia and around the US in the 1970s, and in more recent years to Israel and multiple trips to Europe, including an entire summer independently backpacking around Europe.

Jayne will be missed beyond measure. The world is darker without Jayne in it, but we are brighter and stronger because we knew and were loved by her.

Jayne is survived by her children: Michele (and Nathan) Shepherd, Heather (and Firdosh) Kavarana, Matt (and Anna) Richardson, and Brooke (and Bracken) Roberts; her siblings Roger (and Joanne) Woodruff, Florence Woodruff, June (and Michael) Sullivan, Jeannette (and George) Bajoras, and Beverly (and Roy) Purcell; as well as 12 grandchildren: Simon, Alexander, and Eleanor Shepherd, Jehan, Firoza, and Cyrus Kavarana, and Bracken Jr., Brynnli, Brayden, Brigham, Bridger, and Brielle Roberts – along with countless nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her sister Anna Rose Woodruff, sister-in-law Karen Woodruff, and her parents Wilford Owen Woodruff and Anna LaRetta Hansen. We are confident they have had a joyous reunion. We love you mom/Nana.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday July 15, 2025, at the Kaysville 17th Ward 875 E. 200 N. Kaysville, Utah. Friends may visit family and friends Monday July 14, 2025, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.at the Lindquist’s Kaysville Mortuary 400 N. Main St. and Tuesday from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. at the church.

Interment-Salt Lake City Cemetery

Services will be live-streamed by going to www.lindquistmortuary.com and scrolling to the bottom of Jaynes obituary page. 

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