TRAVERSE CITY — High school sweethearts Jennifer and Matthew Schwartz leaned on one another.
They both bagged groceries at Tom's Food Market in Acme and helped each other through trying times. They married in 2000 and had three children, all girls just a few years apart.
"I can't remember a time without him," Jennifer Schwartz said Friday. "We had an understanding ... we needed each other. That's what it was."
She learned this week her husband, Technical Sgt. Matthew S. Schwartz, 34, died in Afghanistan during his sixth deployment with the U.S. Air Force.
The couple, both formerly of Traverse City, have a home in Cheyenne, Wyo., where Schwartz had been based at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. Schwartz graduated from Traverse City Central High School in 1996, and the family returned to northern Michigan in the summers.
Schwartz was killed in a bomb blast, said his grandmother, Pat Bristol. She said family members are trying to sort out the details and day of his death. His family was notified Thursday morning in Wyoming, Bristol said.
"The only thing I know is that there were three of them killed, and they were in a truck. That's all," Bristol said.
The U.S. Department of Defense had not released information about Schwartz's death by deadline Friday. Staff Sgt. Torri Savarese said the Wyoming Air Force base would not provide a statement before the Department of Defense. She said the department's policy is to wait 24 hours after notifying next of kin "to give the family that time."
Schwartz served as an explosive ordnance disposal specialist in Afghanistan and was a 12-year veteran of the Air Force. His brother-in-law, Traverse City Police Sgt. Jeff O'Brien, said the airman understood the hazards of service duty but did not fear it.
"He knew the dangers; he talked about it," O'Brien said. "He said it was just part of the job."
Schwartz rode along on a few patrols with O'Brien when he was in town on leave. The two talked about Schwartz's career after the military and how he possibly might work in security.
Jennifer said her husband loved his Air Force job, "but his family was more important." The couple have three daughters: Aliza, 11, Emily, 8, and Morgan, 6.
"It's a hard thing to describe -- he loved life and he loved his kids," she said. "He was just wonderful."
Family members flew Friday to Maryland to collect Schwartz's body and begin making funeral arrangements, Bristol said.
Central High School likely will honor Schwartz by engraving his name on a bench in its memorial garden, located outside the front office. Principal Rick Vandermolen said the bench lists the names of deceased students, some of whom didn't have a chance to graduate from high school. Vandermolen didn't know Schwartz, but said the school is "saddened by his death" and "proud that he was a Trojan."
Jennifer is the daughter of James and Yvonne O'Brien, of Williamsburg, who were killed in a 1989 car crash on U.S. 31.
Jeff O'Brien described Schwartz as "engaging" and "always smiling."
"He had the best spirit, and he would have hated everybody talking about him. He would have hated having his name in the newspaper," Jennifer said.
