Christine Schwarz Memorial: Aid for Chris

Christine Schwarz

A Beautiful Life Taken Too Soon — Please Help Chris in This Unimaginable Time

My name is Sabrina Flanagan, and on Saturday, May 3, 2025, I met Chris.

I was out in the field photographing the owlets when he stopped by to see them. He didn’t want to disturb me during my shoot but I invited him over—they were out, and absolutely adorable! We started talking, and within moments, we discovered we were neighbors, living just a street apart.

Then he told me something that stopped me in my tracks: his wife had passed away… just three days earlier. She was a 7th grade teacher.

And I knew exactly who she was.

Her name, Christine Schwarz.

Christine was a beloved 7th-grade teacher at North Valley Middle School in La Salle, CO—one of those rare, extraordinary souls who changes lives simply by being who she is. She was tragically killed when two individuals, fleeing from police in what was believed to be a stolen vehicle, crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with her car. All three lives were lost in an instant.

Chris shared how he had gone searching for her after not being able to reach her, only to come upon the scene himself—only to realize, with unimaginable heartbreak, that this is why she did not answer. She had already been taken from the site. And in the midst of his own shock and grief, Chris’s first instinct was to call her school principal—not for himself, but out of concern for her students. Because Christine wasn’t just a teacher—she was a beacon of love, support, and inspiration to every child she taught.

Rocky Mountain National Park was her favorite place to visit. Especially when the moose were at Sprague Lake! She loved to go watch the eagles and the owls and owlets in the spring and bunnies in her yard. Last year she started a garden at the school! The picture with her and her kids holding plants was taken on Wednesday, shortly before the accident. Not just a photo, but something more for everyone to hold onto.

Story after story has poured in about the difference she made. Her kindness, her warmth, her ability to lift others—Christine was the kind of person this world needs more of.

And now… she’s gone.

I’ve created this GoFundMe to support Chris as he faces something no one should ever have to go through. This was unexpected. Sudden. Devastating. Along with the pain of losing his soulmate, there will be enormous expenses—planning what I can only imagine will be the most beautiful celebration of life, and trying to keep up with everyday costs like mortgage and living expenses as he navigates this new, heartbreaking reality.

Please—if you can donate, no matter the amount, it would mean the world. If you can’t, please share this with others. Together, we can help lift just a small part of the weight Chris is carrying.

Let’s show him, and the world, how deeply Christine was—and still is—loved.