I have tried everything and can't figure it out. Assume I know very little at my age about PC .
Yes, you can delete Gmail without deleting the rest of the Google Account services.
If you are a personal Google Account, go through https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/61177?hl=en.
If you are a workspace user, then I would actually recommend you reach out to your Workspace Admin for the best help since for example, they can just turn off the Gmail service for their end users: https://support.google.com/a/answer/57919?hl=en.