NEWTOWN, CT (AP) - Rachel D'Avino was born on July 17, 1983. She died on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut.
Days before the Connecticut shooting rampage, Rachel D'Avino's boyfriend had asked her parents for permission to marry her.
D'Avino was a behavioral therapist who had only recently started working at the school, according to Lissa Lovetere Stone, a friend who is handling her funeral planned for Friday.
D'Avino's boyfriend, Anthony Cerritelli, planned to ask her to marry him on Christmas Eve, Lovetere Stone said.
Lovetere Stone said she met D'Avino in 2005 when D'Avino was assigned to her son, who has autism, in their town of Bethlehem, Conn. D'Avino, 29, was so dedicated she would make home visits and frequently offer guidance on handling situations such as helping her son deal with loud music at a wedding.
"Her job didn't end when the school bell rang at 3 o'clock," Lovetere Stone said.
Police told her family that she shielded one of the students during the rampage, Lovetere Stone said.
"I'm heartbroken. I'm numb," Lovetere Stone said. "I think she taught me more about how to be a good mother to a special needs child than anyone else ever had."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
