They are together in eternity.
The hero school teacher gunned down trying to protect her fourth-grade students during last week’s Texas school massacre was remembered at a wake Tuesday alongside her husband, who died of a grief-fueled heart attack shortly after her death.
Irma and Joe Garcia lay side-by-side in twin caskets at the somber service, where they were mourned by friends and family, including their surviving son Christian, a Marine who stood in crisp attention in dress uniform as mourners passed by.
“As a mother and an elementary teacher, my heart is broken for you,” one mourner wrote in an online tribute. “There are just no words. Take care of each other and tell each other I love you after every phone call, visit and embrace.
“May God wrap his arms around you as he has wrapped his arms around your parents in heaven.”
Both caskets were adorned with their portraits and draped in elaborate, all-white floral arrangements with roses, carnations and lilies — save for the one pink rose on Irma’s casket.
In between, stood images of the family and their four children in happier times.
Cristian, 23, stood near the caskets occasionally shaking hands or receiving a hug from friends, relatives and neighbors at the Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary in the grief-stricken Texas city.
The 48-year-old Irma was one of two schoolteachers killed along with 19 students in last week’s mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde by gunman Salvador Ramos.
Her family’s grief only grew days later when her husband of 24 years, Joe Garcia, died of a heart attack that family said was brought on by the grief of his loss.
“Extremely heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia Irma’s husband Joe Garcia has passed away due to grief,” the couple’s nephew said on Twitter.
In a moving tribute to her father, the couple’s 15-year-old daughter penned a letter that she left at a memorial for the victims outside Robb Elementary School.
“Dad, I know this was too much for you,” Lyliana Garcia wrote. “Your heart could not take it.
“I will spend the rest of my life fighting for you and mom,” the teen wrote. “Your names will not be forgotten. Your daughter, Lyliana.”
Garcia’s wake comes as two of her students were laid to rest after funeral services Tuesday, and two others had wakes in town — with many more to follow.
