Christian Schwinger

The son of the late Elton and Jean McCombs Schwinger, Chris had an idyllic childhood spent mostly in Brecksville and subsequently Marietta, Ohio. He enjoyed soccer, scuba diving, and flying gliders with his dad. After graduating from Marietta High School in 1978, he attended Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. While in college, he met the first love of his life, Janet Diffendale. They married in March of 1983 and enjoyed a loving marriage of 24 years until Janet’s death in 2007. Chris met the second love of his life in 2008, and married Sandy Stover in April of 2011. They were together for a wonderful 17 years. He had a 24-year career with General Dynamics and retired in 2021.

Chris was an avid life-long gamer, enjoying all types of board games, card games, and video games. Introduced to bridge while in college, it was his dream to run a bridge club in his retirement, which he joyfully accomplished as the Director and Club Manager of the Sparta Duplicate Bridge Club. As a bridge player, he achieved Life Master and Bronze Life Master from the American Contract Bridge League. He was a lover of all things Disney, Marvel and the music of Elton John.

Chris is survived by his loving wife, Sandy Schwinger, his sister, Jody West, Janet’s siblings, Ruth and Eric Stoepker, Linda Ovitt, Lois Diffendale, Carol and Regan Beers, 15 nieces and nephews, and 30 grandnieces and grandnephews.

A memorial gathering will be held Saturday, August 16, at 1:00 pm, at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 246 Woodport Road, Sparta, New Jersey.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society or the American Heart Association in memory of Chris Schwinger by clicking the links below.