They were each newcomers in their own way — one a young teacher’s aide who loved working with children, the other a British boy whose parents yearned for the American dream — but both had their lives cut short just as everything was coming together.
Rachel D’Avino, 29, and Dylan Hockley, 6, were among the 26 victims killed by a gunman Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., the scene of the nation’s second-deadliest school shooting.
Police say D’Avino died protecting one of her students. She never knew that her boyfriend, Anthony Cerritelli, was planning to propose to her on Christmas Eve. Just two days earlier, he had asked her parents for their blessing.
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Those who knew the Bethlehem, Conn., woman said she loved her job and adored working with children. She had only been at Sandy Hook Elementary School a little more than a week before Friday’s tragedy, her aunt, Christine Carmody, told Fox affiliate WTVT in Tampa Bay, Fla.
After graduating from the University of Hartford and getting her master’s degree from Post University, D’Avino enrolled at the University of St. Joseph of Hartford to become a behavior analyst. She was close to getting her doctorate.
Her family said she especially wanted to help children with different types of autism.
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“She had worked in various positions throughout her career providing behavioral therapy to children with hopes of helping them develop into happy and healthy adults,” according to her obituary. “She integrated these children into her daily life; often taking them into her home, hosting holidays and crafting parties for them. She taught them and treated them like family.”
The mother of an autistic child whom D’Avino worked with in 2005 said the young therapist was always willing to go the extra mile even when the school day was over.
“I’m heartbroken. I’m numb,” Lovetere Stone told The Associated Press. “I think she taught me more about how to be a good mother to a special needs child than anyone else ever had.”
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John Molteni, Saint Joseph’s director of the Institute for Autism and Behavioral Studies, said in a Facebook post that she had just finished her coursework that would allow her to take the board certification exam.
A memorial mass is planned at the university for noon Tuesday.
“Please keep Rachel and her family in her prayers along with all the victims and their families,” Molteni wrote.
Blue-eyed Dylan Hockley and his family had moved to Connecticut from Hampshire, England, in January 2011 for his father’s job as an IBM finance manager in New York.
But only recently did the family sell their home in England.
Dylan’s dad, Ian Hockley, was overseas wrapping up paperwork when he told British friends about his “dream life” in America for him, his U.S.-born wife, Nicole, and their two sons, according to reports.
“They sold the house a couple of weeks ago. Ian came back for a couple of days to sort everything and then went back,” neighbor Maria Sweet told the London Evening Standard. “It is so terribly tragic what has happened. Devastating.”
Two Christmases ago, Dylan wrote a “lovely note,” she said, thanking her for the chocolates she gave him.
“He was such a lovely boy, always playing at my house, always saying hello,” Sweet added. “They had been renting the house for the past two years. They told me they were going to see for a while if they liked it in America.”
Apparently, they had. Dylan’s aunt, Judith Hockley, told London’s The Telegraph that both children were “really looking forward” to being in America.
“Dylan loved his brother and he loved his school in America,” Judith Hockley, who is married to Ian Hockley’s brother, told The Telegraph. “He was a model pupil, an academic boy, and he just loved going to school.”
Dylan’s 8-year-old brother, Jake, survived the frightening massacre.
In an interview with a local newspaper in Connecticut last March, Dylan’s mom explained how excited she was to be living in Newtown, a place where the family felt “happy and comfortable.”
“Newtown is a wonderful place to live,” Nicole Hockley told the Newtown Bee, “and we’re looking forward to being here a long, long time.”
A private funeral is planned for Dylan, but no date has been announced.
A visitation for D’Avino is scheduled Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Woodbury Funeral Home of Munson-Lovetere. Her funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.