Diane C. Lautenschlager

Diane Christine Findlay Lautenschlager
It is with the deepest sorrow that the family of Diane Christine Findlay Lautenschlager announce her passing on August 13, 2025.
Born on April 7, 1952, Diane spent the first few years of her childhood in Browns Mills, NJ before moving to Toms River, NJ, to begin her 5th grade education. Always precocious by high school in Toms River High School South from which she graduated in 1969. She was writing poetry and singing in the choir. She inherited her love of classical music and opera from her father, and while others were going to folk concerts, Diane and her friends were going to the Met. She later sang in the Ocean County College Choir and performed in H.M.S. Pinafore. She took ballroom dancing where she met her husband.
Born of Scottish parents, she fiercely embraced her heritage and the music, culture, and dance of her ancestry. She attended heritage festivals; she was a member of the Daughters of Scotia and the Princeton Scottish Dancers and the Astro Astronomy Club of Toms River. She played Bunco and Canasta regularly, loved movies, travel, cruises, her cats, dog, Maggie, and her home. She also gave generously to many charities, and her Catholic faith was unwavering.
She Graduated Douglas College and retired from the Ocean County Board of Social Services. Diane's knowledge of an endless number of subjects was staggering. If you asked a question about any subject, she had an in-depth answer and happily imparted her knowledge. She was also a voracious reader of both fiction and nonfiction and had an incredible capacity to retain knowledge. A conversation with Diane was an education in itself.
She was predeceased by her parents, Robert Crawford and Catherine Findlay, and her sister Robin Findlay DiGiovanni, and brother-in-law, Edmund DiGiovanni. She is survived by her beloved husband, Earl Lautenschlager, and her loving sister, Elizabeth Findlay Bonomo, nephew Julian DiGiovanni, sisters-in-law Karen Schwab (Mark) and Susan Abdalla, nephew Justin Schwab (Cassidy), niece Jamie Davis (Brian), nieces Julie Adballa and Jessica Abdalla (Grayson Perry) and great niece Abigail Davis, and great nephews Ian and Connor Schwab and Grayson Perry as well as numerous friends going back to her school years. She was loved and cherished as a daughter, wife, sister, aunt, and friend to so many.
The family will receive relatives and friends on Thursday, August 21, 2025, from 2pm to 6pm, at the Carmona Bolen Home for Funerals, 412 Main St., Toms River, NJ. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, August 22, 2025, at 10:00am at St. Mary's Parish, 747 West Bay Avenue,, Barnegat, NJ 08005. Interment to follow at St. Joseph Cemetery and Mausoleums, 62 Cedar Grove Road, Toms River, NJ, 08753. Condolences may be expressed to the family by visiting www.carmonabolenfh.com.