Eva Mireles, 44, a 17-year-old educator, taught fourth-year students at Robb Elementary School, according to her aunt, Lydia Martínez Delgado, who confirmed that her niece was among those killed. Delgado said his nephew, Ruben Ruiz, was a police officer in the Uvalde school district and was married to Mireles. The couple shared a daughter who recently graduated from college, Delgado said.
Delgado said Mireles was cheerful and active, and recalled once waking up before sunrise with other relatives to take a walk during a family reunion. “He did everything he could to live a long life, and here he cut himself off,” Delgado said in a telephone interview early Wednesday.
Audrey Garcia said she will never forget the attention Mireles paid to her now-23-year-old daughter Gabby when she was in third grade.
“My daughter has Down Syndrome and was one of the first students at the time to be included in a regular classroom,” said Garcia, who now lives in San Antonio. “Ma’am. Mireles always went further. She never saw Gabby have less potential than any of the other students.”
On Tuesday, Garcia posted a photo on Twitter of his daughter and Mireles, which she said showed the teacher’s dedication. Garcia said he last heard from Mireles about two years ago, after a local TV station made a story about his daughter’s graduation from high school and the new jewelry business. Mireles often came around Christmas, Garcia said, because Gabby had given her an ornament.
“She would say she always thought of Gabby when she put up her Christmas tree,” Garcia said. “After all these years, she still cared about Gabby as a student. I just want everyone to know what kind of person she was and what kind of educator she was. I don’t want her to be forgotten.”