NORWICH – Addison M. Schwingle, 97, long-time Norwich resident and former owner of Norwich Radiator Service and Norwich Farm Implement Company, passed away late Tuesday evening. May 1, 2007, at the Southside Community Hospital in Farmville, Va. He had been a resident of the Brookview Assisted Living Lodge in Farmville for the past 2 1/2 years.
Born in Herricks Center, Pa., on Oct. 9, 1909, to Leonard and Emma Kate (Silvernail) Swingle, he attended schools in Delaware and Jefferson Counties and worked many farms in these areas, forming many life-long friendships. He graduated from an Aviation School in Leroy in the early 1930s.
Add married Marjorie B. Yerdon on Oct. 6, 1934, in Bainbridge. They moved to Norwich where he opened the Norwich Radiator Service, continuing this business for the next 20 years. In 1953, Add and Marge took over the Norwich Farm Implement on Fair Street, later relocating to Rt. 12 South in Norwich. They retired in 1990. Add devoted many hours of his retirement years to the rehabitalization of the Sherburne Quarter Cemetery. He as an avid and very competitive bowler, becoming a member of the Bowling Hall of Fame in 1975; a member of the Broad Street United Methodist Church, and a lifetime member of the Norwich Elks Lodge BPOE 1222. In 1936, Add and Marge built a home in Woods Corners, where he remained until 2004.
Add is survived by his daughters and their husbands: Eleanor and William Watson of Farmville, Va., and Helen and Arthur Garrett of McLean, Va.; grandchildren: James M. Watson of Tokyo, Japan, Anita L. Watson of Pleasantville, Judith L. Boyce and husband Duren of Baton Rouge, La., Arthur S. Garrett III and wife Kelly of Chevy Chase, Md., Schuyler Garrett Ryon and husband Robert of Summitt, N.J., and Stuart A. Garrett and wife Janie of Chatham, N.J. He had 10 great grandchildren. A nephew, Weston Schwingle of Bainbridge also survives. Add was predeceased by his wife, Marjorie, on June 18, 2001.
A memorial service to celebrate Add’s life will be held at 1 p.m. on June 9 at the R.J. Fahy Funeral Home.
Those wishing to make a memorial contribution in Add’s memory are asked to send it to the Chenango Memorial Hospital, 179 North Broad St., Norwich, NY 13815.