Irma Garcia, a Uvalde teacher, and her husband were laid to rest in a sorrowful ceremony on Wednesday, as the town continues to grieve the loss of 21 lives.
When an 18-year-old shooter broke into their classroom last week, he killed 19 students and two instructors, Garcia and her co-teacher, Eva Mireles, 44.
Irma, 48, was discovered squeezing students to her body in her fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School.
Joe, her husband, was last seen attending a memorial for the shooting victims before collapsing and dying of a heart attack two days later.
He died of a broken heart, according to legend.
Today, their caskets were adorned with matching white flowers as they were laid to rest, surrounded by their four children and the Uvalde community.
Somber mourners were seen wiping away tears as the couple’s sons served as pallbearers and helped carry the caskets into the private ceremony at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Among the mourners was US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
Children clutched toys as adults held red roses to place over the caskets afterward at the burial service.
The large crowd gathered quietly around the gravesites with their heads bowed as they paid their last respects.
Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, who presided over the ceremony, honored the educator for protecting her students like she would her own children.
He said: ‘Because you were there with them…You did what you would have done with your own children. You took care of them until your last breath.’
Most of the readings during Wednesday’s service and the homily were in English, with Siller offering some words in Spanish.
‘We are all hurting,’ he said. ‘In the midst of so much, please, please people need comfort, people need you…Let us all foster a culture of peace.’
On the school’s website, Garcia’s biography read how ‘excited’ she was to begin her 23rd year of teaching.
She also expressed pride in her children, who she said were gearing up for Marine boot camp, attending Texas State University, and enjoying another year of high or middle school.
The teacher also said in her biography that she loved to ‘BBQ with my husband, listening to music, and take country cruises to Cancun.’
Siller also reportedly mentioned the slain children’s name several times during his homily, according to the New York Post. He was also seen hugging and comforting churchgoers as armed police guarded the church doors.
Their four children were said to not have addressed mourners during the service, the New York Post reported.
‘It’s a tragedy. It’s a tragic tragedy,’ Joe’s cousin Marina Rodriguez told the Post. ‘It’s heartbreaking, heart wrenching – to lose both of your parents.’
The couple’s 15-year-old daughter Lyliana had left a heartfelt letter outside the memorial at the school just days after the shooting, writing that she would not let her parents be forgotten.
‘Dad, I know this was too much for you. Your heart could not take it,’ she penned. ‘I will spend the rest of my life fighting for you and mom. Your names will not be forgotten.’
The couple have been married for 24 years after meeting in high school, their obituary said.
‘[Their relationship] flourished into a love that was beautiful and kind,’ the obituary read.
The litany of visitations, funerals and burials began Monday and will continue into mid-June.
On Tuesday afternoon, hundreds turned out to remember Amerie Jo Garza, a smiling fourth-grader whose funeral Mass was the first since the massacre. The funeral for 10-year-old Maite Rodriguez was Tuesday night.
At Amerie’s funeral, mourner Erika Santiago, her husband and their two children wore purple shirts adorned with images of the victims. She described Amerie as ‘a nice little girl who smiled a lot,’ and who was ‘so humble and charismatic but full of life.’
Investigators continue to seek answers about how police responded to the shooting, and the US Department of Justice is reviewing law enforcement actions.
The blame for an excruciating delay in killing the gunman – even as parents outside begged police to rush in and panicked children called 911 from inside – was placed on the school district’s police chief, Pete Arredondo.
The director of state police last week said Arredondo made the ‘wrong decision’ not to breach the classroom, believing the gunman was barricaded inside and children weren’t at risk.
On Wednesday, Arredondo told CNN that he’s talking regularly with investigators from the Texas Department of Public Safety, contradicting claims from state law enforcement that he´s stopped cooperating.
Authorities have said the gunman, Salvador Ramos, legally purchased two guns not long before the school attack: an AR-15-style rifle on May 17 and a second rifle on May 20. He had just turned 18, permitting him to buy the weapons under federal law. Ramos was killed by law enforcement.