The husband of one of the dedicated teachers who died attempting to protect her students in Tuesday’s mass shooting in Ulvade, Texas has sadly died of a heart attack. Irma Garcia had been a teacher at Robb Elementary School for 23 years and had been married to husband Joe Garcia for 24 years. Sadly, the heartbreak of losing his wife seems to have been too much to bear for Joe and he passed away this week.
EXTREMELY heartbreaking and come with deep sorrow to say that my Tia Irma’s husband Joe Garcia has passed away due to grief, i truly am at a loss for words for how we are all feeling, PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FAMILY, God have mercy on us, this isn’t easy pic.twitter.com/GlUSOutRVV
— john martinez ❤️🔥 (@fuhknjo) May 26, 2022
- Irma Garcia was one of two teachers killed by the 18-year-old gunman. The horrific attack left 21 people dead, 19 of whom were young students at the school. The fact that Garcia gave her life in an attempt to protect the children she educated is the perfect illustration of her dedication to those kids and her kind heart.
- Joe Garcia loved his wife so much. While there’s no way to prove that it’s the heartbreak of losing her that caused him to have a fatal heart attack, that’s certainly what his family believes (and it’s hard not to think that’s true). Irma’s nephew, John Martinez, said on Twitter that Joe had “passed away due to grief” following his wife’s murder.
- The couple is survived by four children. The oldest child is said to be 23 years old while the youngest is only 12. A GoFundMe page was set up on Thursday night and had already received more than $1.8 million in donations. While money can in no way help heal the pain and devastation of losing their parents, hopefully it can make their lives slightly less stressful.
