TORRINGTON – Long time Jackson resident William E. Schlager, passed away in Murray, Utah on Saturday, April 5, 2025.
Bill was born on April 26, 1950, in Torrington, to Alexander Schlager and Audrey Harris Schlager. He was named after a paternal uncle and was one of two, of 56 cousins so named. He was the oldest of five siblings. In the 1950s he lived in a house built by a paternal uncle, Harry H. Schlager. For a period of time, his immigrant grandfather, Jakob Schlager, lived with his family before moving to Boulder, Colorado.
In 1969, at the age of 19, he enlisted into the U.S. Army, which would begin a lifelong career in the Military. On October 1, 1973, he met Nancy Rohrbach in Hosmer, South Dakota and they married on December 26, that same year, by a justice of the peace.
They moved around several times while in the Military, including West Germany, before the whole extended family settled in Jackson, Wyoming in 1990/1991, where his maternal family, Herbert Harris and Roxie Miller, had once homesteaded. He worked at the Jackson Hole Lodge, Spring Creek, Kmart and Bud Hills Security before fully retiring. Durning this time in Jackson, he was still active service and then was Army Reserves.
Bill’s hobbies included hunting, fishing, horses, goats and later in life whittling wood. He was always a “big smarty pants” and enjoyed a good joke. Bill enjoyed the greater Schlager Family Reunions held in Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming between 1993 and 2005. He contributed to Rigg’s Marine History book “Flamethrower”, which included his father’s experience on Iwo Jima.
Bill is survived by his two children, Alexander Schlager (Heather) of Daniel, Wyoming and daughter Billie Gene Hooker of Etna, Wyoming; three grandchildren, TJ Schlager, Chandler Wood, and Kalel Schlager; four great-grandchildren; brother Kerry Schlager of Etna, sister Sandra Schlager of Victor, Idaho, brother Jake Schlager of Denver, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. He was proceeded in death by his wife Nancy, father, mother, and brother Gordan Schlager.
A celebration of life/memorial services has not yet been determined; however, the family does plan to hold something this summer.
