Ham radio seems so trivial lately and fails miserably as the escapism I’ve sought for the past three days. My thoughts are dominated by events in Connecticut on Friday and I expect that is true for many other Americans as well.
If only any one of us could go back in time and be waiting in that classroom as the monster entered…
My wife and I had dinner out last night. At the table next to us was a family with two children who appeared to be the same age as those killed in Newtown. Looking at them, I couldn’t help but wonder how it’s possible for anyone to want to harm such innocence. Incomprehensible.
If anything lifts my spirits, it’s the humanity of the adults who acted so heroically as they sought to protect and comfort the children. I only wish I could be as courageous as any of those women under such horrific circumstances.
One, Kaitlin Roig, survived to tell her story and, in so doing, describes actions that were most likely very similar to the actions and intentions of those who did not survive to give their accounts.
Far from being “ashamed at being an American” as a fellow blogger so pathetically put it, I am proud, knowing that these brave women are far more representative of who we are as a people than the sick aberration who brought them to our attention.
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Charlotte Bacon, 6
At six years old, Charlotte Bacon had already developed a knack for the power of persuasion, said her uncle, John Hagen.
Charlotte had recently been shopping for a new outfit – a pink dress and white boots — that were set aside for the holidays. After weeks of Charlotte asking, her mother, JoAnn Bacon, finally relented on Friday, letting her daughter wear the clothes to school. Charlotte had even done her hair for the school day.
“She had been working on my sister for weeks to wear this outfit,” Mr. Hagen said. “If she wanted to get something, she was going to get it. She had a strong personality.”
Having lived across the country, the Bacons settled several years ago in Sandy Hook, where Joel Bacon worked as a scientist and his wife was a stay-at-home mother, said Hagen, 52, of Minneapolis.
Mr. Hagen recalled one of the last times he saw Charlotte. The families had gathered for a reunion at a summer home in upstate Minnesota for the fourth of in July in 2011.
The uncle was on a pontoon with Charlotte. “She was about 4 to 5 years old at the time,” he said. “I watched her go and run off the pontoon and into the water with total confidence. She lived life with gusto. This little girl knew how to live life.”
Upon learning of the shooting Friday, Joel and JoAnn Bacon went to firehouse staging area near the school, where they soon met their 9-year-old son, Guy.
“At the fire station, Guy came and no Charlotte,” he said. “They were there until 4 o’clock that afternoon waiting, probably knowing the end result already.”
“She knew something bad had happened because all the families in the fire station were from Charlotte’s class,” Mr. Hagen said.
JoAnn told him that she’d served as the Girl Scout troop leader for Charlotte. “She said there was 10 of the girls in the group,” he said, “and five of them are gone.”
—Pervaiz Shallwani
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Daniel Barden
Daniel Barden, 7
Daniel Barden earned his ripped jeans and two missing front teeth, his parents said.
Fearless in his pursuit of happiness and life, he was a budding athlete, a member of the swim team and an avid soccer player.
“Words really cannot express what a special boy Daniel was. Such a light,” his parents, Mark and Jackie Barden, said in a statement. “Always smiling, unfailingly polite, incredibly affectionate, fair and so thoughtful towards others, imaginative in play, both intelligent and articulate in conversation: in all, a constant source of laughter and joy.”
He was a “sweet boy,” said Karin LaBanca, whose 8-year-old daughter, Maggie, was friends with 7-year-old Daniel. The two children took the school bus together every day, she said.
As Maggie spoke about her friend, Ms. LaBanca, 41 years old, stood close and put her arm around her shoulders. The mother gently pushed the bangs away from her daughter’s eyes.
During the rampage, Maggie hid in a classroom with her third-grade classmates for about an hour, until police brought them to a nearby firehouse. She said she looked for Daniel there, but couldn’t find her friend.
“He likes to play foosball and soccer,” Maggie said.
Thanking the friends and community members who have offered prayers and support, the Bardens said their son “embodied everything that is wholesome and innocent in the world. Our hearts break over losing him and for the many other families suffering loss.”
—Alison Fox and Jennifer Maloney
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Olivia Engel, 6
Outside the house where Olivia Engel, 6 years old, lived, a sign asked for privacy, an increasingly common request in these streets following Friday’s mass shooting.
Olivia’s parents, Brian and Shannon Engel, also have a little boy, Brayden, 3 years old.
“It’s been a difficult day to talk to the family,” a cousin, John Engel III of New Canaan, said on Saturday night. The couple have been with their parents, he said, and attended Mass on Saturday afternoon.
An outgoing girl with a ready laugh, Olivia had “a great sense of humor” and showed insight beyond her six years, according to a statement from her family. “She was a great big sister,” they said, patient with Brayden and always the one to lead grace each night at the dinner table.
Olivia loved school and excelled at math and reading. She also had a creative streak–she drew, took art and dance classes and liked to design things. “When she made us cards, you thought, ‘Wow, that came from a first-grader?’” said Mr. Engel.
A tennis player, Olivia also loved soccer and musical theater. She was a Girl Scout Daisy, the level for girls in kindergarten and first grade, was involved with her parish’s religious education program and was learning her rosary, her family said.
“Her favorite colors were purple and pink. She loved her lamb stuffed animal,” her family said. “She was a grateful child who was always appreciative and never greedy.”
She was, Mr. Engel said, “a tremendous little girl.”
—Jennifer Smith
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Josephine Gay, 7
Josephine Gay had an innocent childhood like so many others, riding her bike in the street and setting up a lemonade stand in the summer. She had just celebrated her seventh birthday Tuesday.
Josephine loved the color purple. In memory, homes in the new subdivision of large houses, about 20 minutes from Sandy Hook Elementary School, hung purple balloons on mailboxes and gates. A neighbor recalled the family as “very kind. The girls were anxious for our kids to move in. They were very welcoming.”
—Danny Gold and Pervaiz Shallwani
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Catherine V. Hubbard, 6
On a small cul-de-sac in Sandy Hook, Conn., 6-year-old Catherine V. Hubbard lived with her family in a two-story home that on Saturday had Christmas wreaths hanging from many windows.
The first-grader was among those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday.
On Saturday, the girls’s family congregated there and asked for prayers.
“We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Catherine Violet, and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy,” the family said in a statement. “We ask that you continue to pray for us and the other families who have experienced loss in this tragedy.”
—Joseph Palazzolo and Alison Fox
Madeleine F. Hsu, 6
To neighbor Karen Dryer, Madeleine Hsu was Maddy, the little girl who always wore bright, flowery dresses and shared a ride to school with her 5-year-old son, Logan.
Ms. Dryer said Madeleine was “very upbeat and kind.”
“She was a sweet, beautiful little girl,” Ms. Dryer said.
The Hsu family moved into the neighborhood within the last few years, Ms. Dryer said. Madeleine’s mother would schedule work so she could meet her daughter as soon as she got home from school, always waiting at the end of the driveway in a red minivan.
—Will James and Pervaiz Shallwani
Chase Kowalski, 7 years old, loved playing baseball outside with his dad, said neighbor Suzanne Baumann.
She said she often saw the boy, one of the children slain Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School, riding an all-terrain vehicle around the yard—all smiles.
“He did nothing but smile,” said Ms. Baumann who has lived next door to the family in Sandy Hook, Conn., for 13 years. “He was the apple of his parents’ eye.”
Ms. Baumann said Chase was never shy. He always said ‘hello,’” she said. “He was very receptive to people. He was a beautiful child, an amazing child.”
—Joseph Palazzolo and Andrew Strickler
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Jesse Lewis, 6
When Barbara McSperrin, of Beacon Falls, Conn., heard news of the shooting on Friday, she sent a text to her friend Scarlett Lewis, whose 6-year-old son, Jesse, attended Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The response came later in the day. The text message from Ms. Lewis said only: “Jesse’s gone.”
Boisterous and imaginative, Jesse was raised in the village of Sandy Hook with his brother, J.T. Family friends say he played with the family’s collection of animals: five horses; a mini-horse; a mini-donkey; three dogs; and chickens. Recently, he was learning to ride horseback, the friends said.
“Jesse was such an incredible light,” his mother, Scarlett Lewis, said in a email on Sunday. “So bright and full of love. He lived life with vigor and passion…brave and true.”
Jesse liked to think up far-fetched scenarios, asking “What if…” before spinning a hypothetical tale, a family friend said.
A woman who helps look after the family’s horses said Jesse and her 8-year-old son used to play in the hayloft and dream up pranks. The last time the boys were together, they had the idea of barricading the door to the barn with bricks.
“He was a force who lit up a room when he entered,” Ms. Lewis said. “Compassionate and caring,” Jesse was, she said, “wise and soulful beyond his years.”
He and his parents were regulars at Newtown’s Misty Vale Deli, according to a manager there, Angel Salazar.
On Friday morning, Jesse had ordered his favorite breakfast sandwich—sausage, egg, and cheese—and a hot chocolate, Mr. Salazar said.
He expected to see Jesse again on Saturday morning, when he usually comes in with his mother and a friend. This Saturday, only the friend came, and she delivered the news.
“They told me he ran into the hall to help,” Ms. Lewis said. “I can only hope this meant he had less fear and went quickly in his bravery. … It is unbelievable to us that Jesse is now in heaven with Jesus.”
—Jennifer Smith, Sharon Terlep and Anton Troianovski
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Ana Marquez-Greene, 6
Saxophonist Jimmy Greene moved his family from Canada, where he was a college professor, to Sandy Hook just a few months ago. A Bloomfield, Conn., native, he wanted to come home, where the heart is, he told the Hartford Courant in May.
On Saturday, a day after his 6-year-daughter Ana was shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Mr. Greene wrote on Facebook that he was trying to “work through this nightmare.”
“As much as she’s needed here and missed by her mother, brother and me, Ana beat us all to paradise. I love you sweetie girl,” he wrote.
Elba Marquez, Ana’s grandmother, told the Associated Press that the family moved to Connecticut just two months ago and were drawn to Sandy Hook’s reputation. Mr. Greene is now a full-time jazz faculty member at Western Connecticut State University at Danbury.
Jorge Marquez, Elba Marquez’s brother, said the child’s 9-year-old brother was also at the school, but escaped safely.
James Mattioli, 6
Neighbors remember 6-year-old James Mattioli as a happy child who would wait for the school bus at the bottom of the family’s driveway with his dad.
“I knew him as the little boy with the 1,000-Watt smile,” said one neighbor.
Family gathered Sunday at the Mattiolis’ gray, two-story home, which has a multicolored play structure in the backyard. A Christmas wreath hung on the front door.
His mother, Cindy Mattioli, grew up in Sherrill, N.Y. The mayor of that town, William Vineall, told the Utica Observer-Dispatch: “It’s a terrible tragedy, and we’re a tight community. Everybody will be there for them, and our thoughts and prayers are there for them.”
—Alison Fox and Jennifer Maloney
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Grace Audrey McDonnell, 7
Grace Audrey McDonnell, 7 years old, was the love and light of her family’s lives.
“We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from so many people,” her parents, Lynn and Chris McDonnell, and her brother, Jack, said in a statement. “Words cannot adequately express our sense of loss.”
Neighbor Orlando Domingos said the image of Grace that would remain with him is the little girl with bright blue eyes and golden hair, standing at the bus stop with her mother.
“She was very little, just coming into the world,” Mr. Domingos said. “She was a beautiful little girl, a beautiful, beautiful little girl.”
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Emilie Parker, 6
The eldest of three, Emilie Parker, 6, was a loving girl, a leader and a “best friend” to her little sisters, her father, Robbie Parker, said at an emotional news conference Saturday evening.
All three were born within three years of one another. The younger girls are 3 and 4, he said.
“They were all very close,” said Mr. Parker. “She was teaching my middle daughter to read. She would help my youngest daughter how to make things, show her how to do crafts.”
Mr. Parker said the family moved to Newtown about eight months ago, when he accepted a job in Danbury as a physician’s assistant. They have family in Utah, and formerly lived in Ogden, Utah, according to press reports.
Emilie was kind and sunny-natured, Mr. Parker said, “the type of person who could just light up a room.” She was, he said, “an incredible person, and I am so blessed to be her dad.”
He said her sisters looked up to her: “It was really sweet to see the times when one of them would fall or one of them would get their feelings hurt, how they would run to Emilie for support and hugs and kisses.”
Mr. Parker had been teaching Emilie Portuguese. On Friday morning, before he left for work, the two chatted in Portuguese. “She said she loved me, and she gave me a kiss, and I was out the door.”
The Parkers’ extended family has set up a memorial fund in her name. Speaking at the news conference, Jill Garrett, an aunt of Emilie’s, said the fund will be used to bring her back to Utah “for her final resting place.”
—Jennifer Smith and Pervaiz Shallwani
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Noah Pozner, 6
The Pozner family got word late Friday afternoon that Noah, their 6-year-old son, was among the dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School, said Reuben Vabner, the father of Noah’s elder siblings.
Mr. Vabner, who was once married to Noah’s mother, Veronique Pozner, but who now lives in WashingtonD.C., said he was headed Saturday up to Connecticut. He hadn’t spoken with his former wife, he said, adding “I will see her tonight.”
People at a Newtown address where Veronique Pozner is listed declined to comment Saturday.
Mr. Vabner said his children, Danielle and Michael Vabner, were devastated.
He described Noah, whom he said he had met only a few times, as bright and precocious. “Noah’s an extraordinarily cute young child,” he said.
He said it was unimaginable that anyone could “meticulously” gun down a classroom full of young children. “I just can’t contemplate” it, he said.
Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel, said he didn’t know Noah Pozner personally but taught his older brother, Michael Vabner, for his Bar Mitzvah. He said the family didn’t have active membership at the synagogue, but he thought that it would become more involved once Noah and his twin sister were older.
“He was a sweet kid,” said David Wiener, a past president of the synagogue who was at a memorial service held there Saturday as part of its regular Shabbat services.
—Jennifer Smith and Shayndi Rice
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Caroline Previdi, 6
Caroline Previdi was a smiling six-year-old whose efforts to make people laugh earned her the nickname “Silly Caroline.”
She will also be remembered for accompanying a nervous kindergartener on the school bus.
Caroline, a first-grader, sat with Karen Dryer’s son, Logan, on the bus each day “so he wasn’t scared,” the mom said.
Ms. Dryer hasn’t yet broken the news to her son. “I’m going to miss her very much,” Ms. Dryer said.
—Will James and Anjali Athavaley
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Jessica Rekos, 6
Jessica Rekos loved all things equestrian.
The six-year-old watched horse movies, read horse books, drew pictures of horses, wrote stories about horses. She asked Santa for new cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat.
And her parents had promised her a real live horse when she turned 10.
“Jessica was our first born. She started our family, and she was our rock,” her family said in a statement. “She had an answer for everything, she didn’t miss a trick, and she outsmarted us every time. We called her our little CEO for the way she carefully thought out and planned everything. We cannot imagine our life without her.”
Her family recalled her as a creative child who loved playing with her younger brothers, Travis and Shane.
“She was a gorgeous, sweet, fun-loving girl,” said her uncle Craig Lehman, 52, of Tampa, Fla. “Like the rest of them, gone too soon.”
After seeing the movie “Free Willy” last year, Jessica immersed herself in research on orca whales and pined to see a real one. In October, she got her wish at SeaWorld.
“We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can’t play with his best friend,” her family said. “We are devastated, and our hearts are with the other families who are grieving as we are.”
—Jennifer Maloney and Danny Gold
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The Adults:
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Rachel Marie D’Avino, 29
Rachel Marie D’Avino was described by her family as a “true hero” who died “protecting the children she loved so dearly.”
According to an obituary released by a local funeral home handling Ms. D’Avino’s services, her boyfriend, Anthony Cerritelli, was going to propose on Christmas Eve.
Ms. D’Avino graduated from Nonnewaug High School in Woodbury in 2001. She went on to receive a bachelor’s degree from University of Hartford and a Master’s Degree from Post University. She was working toward her doctorate degree from University of St. Joseph of Hartford.
She had completed her final requirements to become a board certified behavior analyst last week. “Her presence and tremendous smile brightened any room she entered,” the obituary said.
Ms. D’Avino was the oldest of three children of Ralph and Mary D’Avino and was known to treat her siblings like they were her own children.
Ms. D’Avino loved animals, cooking, baking, photography, and karate, but “her passion, however, was her occupation as a behavioral therapist working with children within the autism spectrum.”
She held several positions in behavioral therapy during her career and was described as a therapist who had a knack for integrating children into daily life by treating them as if they were her own, “often taking them into her home, hosting holidays and crafting parties for them.”
“Ultimately, it is these gifts that would have given Rachel a level of understanding and forgiveness during this time of crisis that many others wouldn’t have,” the obit read.
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Dawn Hochsprung, 47, School Principal
Dawn Hochsprung gave everything to the 500 families she counted as part of the Sandy Hook Elementary School community – including, in the end, her own life.
As school principal, she arrived early, stayed late and knew every name of the nearly 700 students at the school. She frequented the Sandy Hook Diner for early-morning meals before the school day began, sometimes holding meetings at the restaurant, recalled co-owner Ellie Lewis.
Ms. Hochsprung welcomed the more than 1,000 parents linked to the school to visit her classrooms, according to a letter she sent home earlier this year, and circulated on Twitter photos of their children learning and volunteering.
At home, she was a wife, mother and grandmother. On Friday nights and weekends, she attended a doctoral program at the Esteves School of Education in upstate New York, where she impressed the dean, Lori Quigley, with her “infectious smile” and pride in her work.
“Every parent who knows her just adores her,” agreed Diane Day, a therapist for the district who was in a routine meeting with Ms. Hochsprung that was interrupted by the sound of gunfire as suspect Adam Lanza, 20, forced his way into the school. Witnesses said she ran towards the danger, making her one of the first victims in a rampage that would claim 26 lives at the school, including 20 students.
Dianne Shay, a substitute teacher and neighbor in nearby Woodbury, Conn., said Ms. Hochsprung was always available for students. “She would go into classrooms and say good morning,” Ms. Shay recalled. “That’s the type of person she was.”
She took a personal interest in the lives of her staff as well. When she noticed Connie Malgrande, a speech pathologist, seemed a little sad during a recent meeting, she invited her colleague into her office.
“She said, come on in and have some candy and let’s talk it over,” said Ms. Malgrande. “I considered her a friend. I’m going to miss her greatly.”
Ms. Malgrande said the descriptions of her principal’s heroism were right in character. “That’s just who she was,” Ms. Malgrande said. “She was a take-charge kind of person. I can see her doing anything to keep the school safe.”
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Nancy Lanza, 52, Mother of Suspected Gunman
Some neighbors and relatives remembered Nancy Lanza, the 52-year-old mother of the suspected gunman behind one of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, as a retiring person who largely kept to herself. But those who knew her well say she could be warm, open and gregarious—a favorite at a town bar who sometimes gave Red Sox tickets to friends there.
Ms. Lanza ate at My Place, the local bar, as much as three days a week and enjoyed a craft beer or two with her meal, said bartender Michael Agius, 26. “She was just a part of the bar family over there,” he said. “She was such a friendly person.”
Ms. Lanza grew up in Kingston, N.H., and lived there near her extended family until moving to Newtown in 1998. Her family is well-known in the small New Hampshire town, where Ms. Lanza’s mother was a school nurse and her brother, James Champion, works in law enforcement.
Kingston Police Chief Donald Briggs Jr. called Ms. Lanza a “very, very kind, considerate, loving young lady.” He added: “She was very involved in the community, very well respected.”
She became the first victim in the Friday morning massacre that would eventually claim the lives of 20 children and six adults. The youngest of her two sons, suspected gunman Adam Lanza, 20, allegedly shot her in the head multiple times before heading to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he took his own life with a single bullet, according to Connecticut’s chief medical examiner.
Ms. Lanza’s body was discovered in the aftermath of the attack on the school inside the yellow Colonial-style home she had shared with Adam. The comfortable, well-kept home in an upscale neighborhood called Bennett’s Farm was a few blocks from Paugussett State Forest.
There had been strains within the Lanza family. Ms. Lanza divorced her husband, Peter Lanza, in 2009 after a long separation, a relative said.
In recent months, Adam had seemed to pull away from his family, according to Dan Holmes, a landscaper who worked on Ms. Lanza’s property and who would occasionally see her at My Place. When Nancy took her older son, 24-year-old Ryan Lanza, to see a concert in New Orleans, Adam didn’t join them.
“It got to the point where she did not have a close relationship with her son,” Mr. Holmes said.
Ms. Lanza was a gun collector and avid shooter, friends said, and she lived in a heavily wooded area frequented by hunters. She showed one of “her beautiful rifles, an old collectible she was very proud of” to Mr. Holmes. He said she and her sons “would go target shooting as a family.”
Weapons recovered at Sandy Hook Elementary School were registered to Ms. Lanza. Ellen Adriani, who described herself as a friend of Ms. Lanza, expressed disbelief that guns kept at the home would have been left out for her son to take. “She was just careful and cautious and responsible,” said Ms. Adriani. “I can’t believe she would do that.”
Ms. Lanza “seemed to really enjoy gardening and landscaping,” said Newtown resident Rhonda Cullens, who said she and Ms. Lanza were part of a group of neighborhood women who used to gather once a month to play bunco, a parlor game with dice.
Gina McDade, who lives a few houses away from Ms. Lanza and saw her from time to time at the grocery store, remembers Ms. Lanza putting up Christmas lights outside the house and as a member of the ladies’ night club.
“I feel so bad for Nancy and the tarnishing of her family,” Mrs. McDade said. “She was a stay-at-home mom who loved her kids.…She was like anybody else, she would decorate the house [on Christmas], the house was always pristine. She was like any other housewife.”
—Tamara Audi, Ted Mann, Shayndi Raice, Rachel Cromidas, Josh Dawsey, Erica E. Phillips, Sharon Terlep
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Anne Marie Murphy, 52, School Aide
Anne Marie Murphy worked as an aide at Sandy Hook Elementary School, teaching art and special education, while she patiently waited for a full-time position to open up. She just wanted to be around the children, friends said.
That Ms. Murphy, 52 years old, would be among the six adults who gave their lives in an effort to protect those children did not seem out of character to her friends.
“If there’s one comfort these parents can have, it’s knowing that Annie had her strong, loving arms around them at the end,” said Gael Lynch, an employee of another school in the district and a family friend. “She was a sweetheart and she loved Sandy Hook.”
On Saturday, mourners gathered at Ms. Murphy’s two-story home, which sits on top of a hill. A Christmas wreath with white lights hung above the door, and friends left candles and flowers at the entrance to the driveway. Just down the street was the home of 6-year-old James Mattioli, one of 20 students killed on Friday.
“It was my wife. It was a terrible tragedy,” said Mike Murphy, her husband. “She just tried to protect her kids.”
Ms. Murphy had four children of her own.
She grew up around a lot of children: Ms. Murphy was one of seven siblings, and her neighbors also had large families. During her childhood in Katonah, N.Y., there was always a playmate nearby, remembered longtime friend Nancy Bellini.
“Obviously, she must have done something good to help the kids she was there for,” Ms. Bellini said. “I could just see it being her priority to make sure her kids were OK.”
Ms. Murphy graduated in 1978 from John F. Kennedy Catholic High School, where she was a member of the school’s successful cross-country team. Ms. Bellini said her friend loved art and had painted a mural in her family’s garage.
Every Memorial Day, Ms. Murphy would return to Katonah to watch her dad march in the parade. Christmas Eve was spent at a home overflowing with family members.
Neighbor Mark Malia, 58, choked up Saturday night as he described his longtime friend. He said he wasn’t the type to have a lot of friends.
“I don’t know how to say it other than we’re kind of picky with friends,” he explained, standing on his porch in Newtown. “But she was a friend.”
—Lisa Fleisher and Sharon Terlep, with reporting by Jennifer Levitz and Alison Fox
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Lauren Rousseau, 30, Substitute Teacher
Last September, Lauren Rousseau’s phone rang with a hard-won opportunity: a teaching position at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The job, as a full-time substitute, offered little in the way of security or stability. It meant accepting a different classroom assignment on a daily basis without benefits or the promise of a permanent position. The pay was a meager $75 a day.
Ms. Rousseau, 30 years old, was thrilled.
“Oh she called so excited, she was just on cloud nine,” recalled her father, Gilles Rousseau, a photographer from Southbury, Conn. “She had such big plans. She would just go on and on about the kids.”
Ms. Rousseau’s mother said the oldest of her three children decided early to be a teacher. She still has an old photo of a very young Lauren standing at a chalkboard, her toys at her feet.
“She used to talk to her dolls like she was their teacher,” said Terri Rousseau, a journalist who lives in Danbury, Conn.
After graduating with a degree in education from the University of Connecticut in 2004, Ms. Rousseau got her masters degree from the University of Bridgeport in 2006 with the goal of becoming an elementary-school teacher. But teacher layoffs in the area in recent years made even substitute jobs scarce.
She had a lucky link to Sandy Hook. Dawn Hochsprung, the school principal who died trying to stop the gunman, was a family friend. Ms. Hochsprung’s husband, George, had once been Ms. Rousseau’s grade-school teacher.
Ms. Rousseau had already moved back into her childhood home where her divorced mother still lived. To make the teaching job work, she put in after-school hours behind the counter of a busy Starbucks just off the interstate at the Connecticut-New York border, a demanding second job that supplied health insurance. She often drove directly to the coffee shop from school, changing clothes in her Honda Civic to save time.
Several chances for non-substitute teaching job looked promising but eventually fell apart, and her father said that she had struggled to pay her bills.
In her free time, Ms. Rousseau kept up with friends online and played with her cat, Laila, a regular feature in family photos and on her Christmas cards. A favorite getaway was a train trip to a Broadway show in Manhattan, preferably midweek for discounted tickets.
Last year, things started looking up. An Internet date blossomed into a full-fledged romance. She went to parties and Yankees games with her boyfriend, Tony. There was talk of marriage, her mother said.
“I’ll take some comfort that the last year of her life was her happiest,” the elder Ms. Rousseau said on Saturday.
On Friday night, she said her daughter had planned to see the new film “The Hobbit” and had baked Hobbit-themed cupcakes for a friend’s birthday.
The family’s initial optimism early in the day that Ms. Rousseau had survived the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School turned to dread as night fell without word from her. Calls and text messages to her cellphone went unanswered, and at 1 a.m. Saturday a Connecticut state trooper knocked on her father’s door. The officer was flanked by a minister and counselors.
The officials offered no details as to how or where Ms. Rousseau died, saying only that she had been identified among the six adults and 20 children who had died at the school.
—Andrew Strickler
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Mary Sherlach, 56, School Psychologist
In October, Superstorm Sandy was bearing down on Trumbull, Conn., but Mary Sherlach and her husband rushed across the street to their neighbors’ house after seeing a downed tree.
She just wanted to make sure everyone was OK, said the neighbor, Kathy Lucas, 52.
Ms. Sherlach followed that instinct Friday at Sandy Hook elementary school, where she worked as the school psychologist, witnesses said. When she heard shots fired, Ms. Sherlach and school principal Dawn Hochsprung quickly left a meeting and headed toward the danger, a witness said.
She was one of 26 people who were killed at the school, not including the alleged gunman, who authorities said took his own life.
John Lucas, 51, said Ms. Sherlach would often sit on her front porch on a white, wicker loveseat. The neighbors said she had two adult daughters, and cared deeply about her family.
“A wonderful couple, just devoted to each other,” Ms. Lucas said.
—Alison Fox and Lisa Fleisher
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Vicki Leigh Soto, 27, First-Grade Teacher
When her students were in danger, her instincts kicked in.
First-grade teacher Vicki Leigh Soto, 27 years old, died trying to protect the children she loved, her cousin Jim Wiltsie said. When the gunfire started on Friday morning, she gathered her students and tried to hide them in a classroom closet, officials told her family.
“In doing so, she put herself between the kids and the gunman’s bullets,” said Mr. Wiltsie, who is a police officer. “That is how she was found. Huddled with her children.” He said he didn’t know if her students were among the dead.
Ms. Soto, who had just turned 27 last month, grew up in Stratford, Conn. She was the oldest of four children in a big, extended family that included many public workers and first responders. Her cousin said that she loved going to the beach and was active in her church.
“Vicki was a great individual with a huge heart and put students first. Unfortunately, that is how she lost her life,” Mr. Wiltsie said. “I wanted people to know that she was a hero for what she did, and that she gets the recognition that she deserves.”
Her life was filled with family and children. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a teacher. She had worked at Sandy Hook Elementary School for five years—three as a first-grade teacher and two as an intern—and was pursuing her master’s degree in special education at Southern Connecticut State University, according to her biography on the school’s website. She wrote that she graduated from EasternConnecticutStateUniversity with a degree in elementary education and history.
“She was a very nurturing individual—big sister was her role,” Mr. Wiltsie said. “Instinctively as a teacher, all she wanted to do was protect those kids, and that is what she was trying to do.”
On her teacher page, she said she enjoyed reading, owned a black lab named Roxie and loved spending time with her brother, two sisters and cousins. She also wrote that she loved flamingos and the New York Yankees.
“I look forward to an amazing year in first grade with my amazing students of room 10!” Ms. Soto wrote on her teacher page.
—Lisa Fleisher
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