Jennifer Ikner-Garrett

Our beautiful Jenn Ikner-Garrett left us on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 after two-plus years of battling cancer on her own terms: purposeful with her time and generous with her love. (She may not have vanquished cancer on this earthly plane, but trust us, Jenn is absolutely plotting her revenge against cancer from her perch in heaven.) Jenn was born in Los Angeles County on December 19, 1969 but called Nashville home, where she spent the happiest years of her life with her son Garrett Wilmoth and her wife of 21 years, Christy Ikner-Garrett; her mother Bobbie Noreen and her brother Ted Pins; dogs Dillis and Dyson, and countless friends and colleagues.

Jenn was the biggest badass any of us had ever known, a force of nature. She built one successful business after another but shied from the limelight. She was deeply involved in LGBTQ advocacy, co-chairing the annual Human Rights Campaign dinner several times and being an acting officer in Nashville PRIDE. She was the unofficial mayor of French Lick, Indiana…a small tourist town where she chose to spend her down time.  She and Christy hosted legendary pool parties and “Lilith Fairs” at their house, playing matriarch to a cadre of queers of all ages who finally found their chosen family thanks to Jenn.

She loved big and fierce. She didn’t suffer fools but made friends wherever she went. She dispensed her wisdom liberally, always with a heaping of hilarity and sarcasm. The list of things she hated (Top Golf, sticky fingers, famous quarterbacks) was as long as the list of people she adored. She took care of everyone around her, personally and professionally, providing advice, direction, a shoulder to cry on, or a much-needed joke – somehow always knowing what someone needed in that moment.

When she was diagnosed with leukemia, she refused to let it slow her down. She still worked around the clock, tending to business projects and employees, hosting friends, albeit with strict COVID protocols, and making the rounds in French Lick.

In addition to Christy, Garrett, and her mother and brother, she is survived by hundreds of devastated friends who will never stop missing her.

Friends and family will gather on Thursday, August 25 with service at 2p.m. followed by reception until 4 p.m. at Saint Elle in Nashville (1420 3rd Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37210). In lieu of flowers, please make donations in Jenn’s memory to her favorite charities: Thistle Farms, The Nashville Humane Association or Love At First Sight pet adoption center.