UVALDE, Texas (AP) — She wrote notes to her family, hiding them so that they could be found later and loved to feed animals on the family’s ranch. He liked to sit in the back of the school bus so he could talk with other kids.
Family members were having funerals Saturday for the two 10-year-olds, Makenna Elrod and Rojelio Torres. They were among the 19 students killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, along with two teachers.
Makenna Lee Elrod
Her family asked in the obituary on the funeral home’s website that people attending a celebration of Makenna’s life at First Baptist Church wear purple to honor her. The family called her “a light to all who knew her.”
She was full of life and loved softball, gymnastics and singing and dancing, her family said. She was a 4-H Club member who also loved to go to the family ranch with her father.
Family said her smile would light up a room. Her family also remembered her as a natural leader who loved school.
The New York Daily News reported that Makenna gave friendship bracelets to the people closest to her.
“She was beautiful, funny, smart, and amazing,” an aunt wrote on a GoFundMe page. “She had the biggest heart and loved her family and friends so much.”
Rojelio Fernandez Torres
Each morning as he boarded the school bus, he’d ask to sit in the back because that is where the “visiting” happens, his school bus driver told The Associated Press. He was “like a bull,” funny and charismatic, she said. He loved hot Takis.
He got up at 5:30 a.m. on those mornings to get ready for school, the Wall Street Journal reported. An aunt told San Antonio’s KSAT-TV that Rojelio was intelligent and hardworking.
His family described him in the obituary on the funeral home’s website as outgoing and “always eager to help.” Rojelio loved being outside, and his hobbies included Pokemon and playing football and video games. “He always had a smile on his face.”
“He was a loving person,” another aunt told The New York Times. “He loved his siblings.”