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7 Years After Sandy Hook, Families Share Sorrow and How They're Keeping Victims' Legacies Alive

7 Years After Sandy Hook, Families Share Sorrow and How They're Keeping Victims' Legacies Alive

Their smiles frozen in time, the 26 children and educators gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012, live on in the hearts and labors of their families. Watch the full episode of People Features: Remembering Sandy Hook Elementary, streaming now on PeopleTV.

By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall

December 14, 2017 07:25 AM

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1 of 26

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

Charlotte "loved tae kwon do, the color pink and any animal,” says the foundation in her name, which awards veterinary-medicine scholarships to honor her dream of becoming a veterinarian.

2 of 26

Daniel Barden, 7

Credit: Courtesy Barden family

Daniel was the boy who looked out for everyone — “from his classmates and his family to the worms on the sidewalk,” says his dad, Mark Barden. “He can’t do that anymore, so I try to do that work for him.” Barden cofounded the nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise, which trains students and faculty to respond to early warning signs of mental illness that can lead to school shootings.

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Rachel D'Avino, 29

Credit: courtesy D'Avino Family

A therapist working with students on the autism spectrum, D'Avino now has her name on a scholarship for those continuing her life’s passion. “The scholarship means a lot to us, but it’s also heartbreaking,” says her sister Hannah D’Avino. “It gets harder," she says. "You realize what you’ve lost a little more each day.”

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Olivia Engel, 6

Credit: Engel FamilyTim Nosezo/Enterprise News and Pictures

The giggly Daisy Scout died before she got to be the angel in her church’s nativity play. Her family gave funds to a dog park so that “Olivia will continue to bring joy to this community.”

5 of 26

Josephine Gay, 7

Credit: Courtesy Gay Family

“Joey” loved purple, the Baltimore Ravens and cupcakes. “We keep her at the heart of everything we do,” says her mom, Michele Gay, cofounder of Safe and Sound Schools.

6 of 26

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

Credit: Courtesy Hochsprung Family

The principal, beloved by kids and parents alike for the kind of spirit that had her leading conga lines at school dances, died after lunging at the gunman. “Five years later I choose to remember the good times — her smile, her laughter and every time she told me I’ll always be her baby girl,” says daughter Erica Lafferty, now an activist for safer gun laws.

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Dylan Hockley, 6

Credit: Courtesy

“There’s a theory that if a butterfly flaps his wings on one side of the world, it can cause a hurricane on the other,” says his mom, Nicole Hockley. “Dylan is my butterfly. When I visit schools and look at the kids, I see butterflies. They’re the ones who are going to create the change that will change our country.”

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Madeleine Hsu, 6

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

Madeleine loved reading, says Bill Lavin, founder of the group that built playgrounds honoring each Sandy Hook victim. So her playground, in West Islip, New York, includes a library where kids can exchange books.

9 of 26

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Credit: Courtesy Hubbard family

“Catherine was all about caring for the animals,” says her mother, Jenny Hubbard, who founded an animal sanctuary in her name in Newtown, Connecticut.

“The one thing that we are truly fortunate for, and not a day goes by that we don’t acknowledge, is that we’ve been afforded an incredible opportunity in honoring Catherine’s memory and her legacy,” Hubbard says.

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Chase Kowalski, 7

Credit: Courtesy Kowalski family

A runner since he took his first steps, Chase completed his first triathlon at 6. His parents founded the CMAK Foundation and created the Race4Chase to teach kids to run, swim and bike.

“I see the joy on their faces, and I know that’s what he would have been doing,” says mom Rebecca Kowalski. “I get to see these kids grow up when I don’t get to see Chase grow up.”

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Jesse Lewis, 6

Credit: courtesy Scarlett Lewis

Jesse's loving personality inspired his mom, Scarlett Lewis, to launch the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement to help kids with social and emotional learning. The holidays were Jesse’s favorite time of year, says his dad, Neil Heslin, who remembers setting up the Christmas tree with his son just before the shooting.

“I didn’t have the heart to take it down,” Heslin says, “until this year.”

12 of 26

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

A daughter of musicians, Ana loved singing and “danced to all the music she heard,” her father, Jimmy Greene, said in 2012. “It is almost unfathomable to me that she’s been gone almost as long as we had her,” mom Nelba Marquez-Greene wrote on Facebook on Sept. 15. “There have been 1,736 days since Ana was murdered ... and exactly that many days since my heart was whole.”

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James Mattioli, 6

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

The outdoorsy ball of energy who loved baseball and helping his dad in the yard is remembered through a 5K in his birthplace of Milford, Connecticut, and a scholarship in his name.

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Grace McDonnell, 7

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

A “girlie girl” who loved the beach and helping her mom bake cookies, Grace has a beachside playground named for her in Mystic, Connecticut, where her parents, Chris and Lynn McDonnell, got engaged.

15 of 26

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

The special-education aide called her four children the “four pillars of her life,” her husband, Michael Murphy, recalled at her funeral. But she treated her students as her own too and died cradling Dylan Hockley in her arms. “Dylan loved her so much,” says his mom, “and [he] pointed at her picture on our refrigerator every day.”

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Emilie Parker, 6

Credit: Courtesy Parker family

Emilie’s Christmas stocking is hung again this year — it’s where her little sisters, just 3 and 4 years old when Emilie died, leave their letters to her for Santa to deliver to heaven. In their countdown to Christmas, Emilie kept track of the family’s Advent calendar.

“The numbers stopped the day she died,” says her mother, Alissa Parker, who cofounded Safe and Sound Schools as well as the Emilie Art Connection. “I still have it exactly the way it was.”

17 of 26

Jack Pinto, 6

Credit: Courtesy Pinto family

Dedicating a Jersey Shore playground in Jack’s name in 2013, Dean Pinto said it was the perfect memorial for his son, who had a “love for play and playgrounds [and] helping people.”

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Noah Pozner, 6

Credit: courtesy Pozner Family

Arielle, Noah’s twin sister, is 11 now, says their father, Lenny Pozner, who moved the family to Florida after the shooting. “I see my daughters grow, and I wonder what Noah would look like now," Pozner says. "He was a perfect little boy.”

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Caroline Previdi, 6

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

When she died, Caroline was planning to buy Christmas presents for underprivileged kids. Today her family runs a foundation that gives those kids access to the things Caroline loved: dance, art, music and sports.

20 of 26

Jessica Rekos, 6

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

She loved whales, couldn’t wait to sell Girl Scout cookies and wanted to “ride forever” on horseback. Now the Jessica Rekos Foundation sponsors orca research and equestrian lessons.

21 of 26

Avielle Richman, 6

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

Her parents created the Avielle Foundation to study the science behind violence and compassion. What would Avielle have become if she’d had the chance to grow up? “An artist and a spy. Oh, and a fairy princess, and a writer,” reads the website.

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Lauren Rousseau, 30

Credit: Enterprise News and Pictures

The first-grade teacher is missed by the boyfriend she left behind, Anthony Lusardi III, who is still close with her mom, Terri Rousseau. “I [recently] surprised Terri for lunch,” he says. “She told me, ‘Lauren would have loved that.’ ”

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Mary Sherlach, 56

Credit: Courtesy Bill Sherlach

“A good day for Mary was when she could spend all day with kids,” says the school psychologist’s widower, Bill Sherlach. He now works with Sandy Hook Promise and, with their two daughters, started Mary’s Fund to give kids free counseling and other mental-health care.

“We are continuing her work,” says Bill. “You don’t get over grief; you just live with it.”

24 of 26

Victoria Soto, 27

Credit: Vicki Soto Memorial

Soto was “the fun teacher” who loved flamingos and finding the perfect Christmas tree, says her sister Carlee Soto Parisi, whose family started a memorial fund to give scholarships of $5,026 — “the number 26 to keep in mind why we do it,” Parisi says — to teachers who embody her “live, laugh, love” spirit.

“We will not let Vicki’s memory die,” says Parisi.

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Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Credit: Courtesy Wheeler family

He loved lighthouses, so community members started Ben’s Lighthouse to help give kids “the tools and self-confidence to stand tall and shine bright,” says Ben’s dad, David Wheeler. “We miss him so much, but we will never stop working to create a legacy for Ben that he never had the chance to build for himself.”

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Allison Wyatt, 6

Credit: Courtesy Wyatt family

Allison’s drawings turned her family’s home into an art museum. “She was a sweet, creative, funny, intelligent little girl,” her parents wrote on a memorial website.

• Reporting by ELAINE ARADILLAS, K.C. BAKER, LIZ McNEIL and JEFF TRUESDELL

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7 Years After Sandy Hook, Families Share Sorrow and How They're Keeping Victims' Legacies Alive

1 of 26

Charlotte Bacon, 6

1 of 26

2 of 26

Daniel Barden, 7

2 of 26

3 of 26

Rachel D'Avino, 29

3 of 26

4 of 26

Olivia Engel, 6

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Josephine Gay, 7

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Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

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Dylan Hockley, 6

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Madeleine Hsu, 6

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Catherine Hubbard, 6

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Chase Kowalski, 7

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Jesse Lewis, 6

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Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

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James Mattioli, 6

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Grace McDonnell, 7

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Anne Marie Murphy, 52

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Emilie Parker, 6

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Jack Pinto, 6

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Noah Pozner, 6

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Caroline Previdi, 6

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Jessica Rekos, 6

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Avielle Richman, 6

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Lauren Rousseau, 30

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Mary Sherlach, 56

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Victoria Soto, 27

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Benjamin Wheeler, 6

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Allison Wyatt, 6