This 2012 photo provided by the family shows Lauren Rousseau. Rousseau was killed Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, when a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn., killing 26 children and adults at the school.
While a shocked nation mourns the 26 women and children shot to death at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., Vicki Bomgardner Nagle is grieving a much more personal loss.
Her niece and godchild, Lauren Gabrielle Rousseau, 30, a permanent substitute teacher, was one of the victims.
"I held her during her christening," Nagle said in an email.
"I was there when the bus picked her up for her first day of school (she had a lucky penny in her shoe). I watched her grow into an amazing young woman whose goal in life was to teach young children. She loved 'her kids,' " said Nagle, a Lancaster County resident and former Lancaster city district justice.
Lauren's mother, Teresa Rousseau — a graduate of Elizabethtown Area High School and a copy editor for the Danbury (Conn.) News-Times — is Nagle's sister.
The last time she saw Lauren was at Thanksgiving, Nagle said in her email.
"She and [her boyfriend] Tony [Lusardi III] were at our large family gathering in Bethlehem. … They were so happy."
Over the next few days, members of the family will be traveling to Danbury from Alabama, Colorado, Virginia and Pennsylvania, Nagle said.
A story in The News-Times said Lauren worked for years as a substitute teacher and at other jobs before landing a permanent substitute position at Sandy Hook Elementary in October.
"It was the best year of her life," Teresa Rousseau told the paper.
Lauren grew up in Danbury and attended local schools before going to the University of Connecticut and earning her master's degree in teaching from the University of Bridgeport.
"She had so many interests — music, dance, theater," her mother said in the article.
Teresa Rousseau released a statement Saturday that said state police told the family just after midnight Friday that her daughter was among the victims.
"Lauren wanted to be a teacher from before she even went to kindergarten," she said. "We will miss her terribly and will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream."
