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Pictured: The empty seat at Christmas dinner for Sandy Hook teacher who was buried with the engagement ring she never received


Published: 15:18 EDT, 27 December 2012 | Updated: 17:25 EDT, 27 December 2012



It is the chair where Rachel D'Avino should have been sitting as she enjoyed Christmas dinner with her family, no doubt still giddy from accepting her long-term boyfriend's proposal the day before.

But instead, it is empty, and her plate, which should be covered with turkey and all the trimmings, simply bears a photograph of her beaming smile.

This image is a heart-breaking reminder of how, while millions of families settled down to Christmas dinner, there were 26 tables in Connecticut missing loved ones. Missed: Hannah D'Avino uploaded this picture of her sister's empty place at Christmas dinner. Rachel D'Avino, 29, was one of the six teachers gunned down with 20 students in Newtown on December 14

It was uploaded to Reddit by her younger sister Hannah nearly two weeks after Rachel, a newly-appointed special needs teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, was gunned down with 20 children and five other female staff members.

'My sister was a victim at Sandyhook elementary school,' the photograph's caption reads. 'This is her seat at the table for Christmas dinner.'




Just two days before her death, Rachel's long-term boyfriend, Anthony Cerritelli, had asked her parents for her hand in marriage, and planned to propose on Christmas Eve.

Instead, in a twist none of the family could have predicted, she lost her life on December 14 - and the ring that symbolised so much promise was instead placed inside her coffin as she was buried.

'She would have said yes,' Hannah explained on Reddit. 'My grandmother gave her the ring. My sister told her boyfriend where she put it. He had it cleaned up, and replaced the diamonds.' Loved: Rachel, left, is pictured with her Hannah, who said the photo was her way of remembering her sister

She added that she wanted to share the Christmas dinner photograph with the online community as Rachel, 29, had been a Reddit user and she 'would have appreciated this'.

'This is my way of sharing memories of my sister,' she wrote.

After the killings, it emerged that Rachel, who only began working at the school for two weeks before the shooting, tried to draw the shooter away from children at the school, but was killed in the process.

She worked in special education and had been a therapist for autistic children.

Her other sister, Sarah, said she visited a memorial to her sister and the other victims over Christmas and left music boxes from her sister's first Christmas, stuffed animals and other items. Loss: Rachel's boyfriend was going to propose to her on Christmas Eve with her grandmother's ring Saying goodbye: She was buried with the ring after her funeral in Bethlehem, Connecticut last week

Rachel D'Avino had a special talent for reaching children with autism, Sarah said.

In one example of her sister's skill, she explained how one girl didn't talk or make eye contact when Rachel started working with her.

'This girl came to Rachel's wake and actually looked my sister, me and my mom in the eye, said how much Rachel meant to her and that she was sorry,' she said. 'Rachel made her way into the girl's world and helped bring her out."

Rachel's friend Lissa Lovetere said teaching special needs children had been her calling.

'She had that gift, that maternal instinct. She cared for people,' Ms Lovetere told MailOnline. 'Working with special needs children was her forte.' Farewell: Mourners arrive for her funeral on December 21. They remembered Rachel, who had only worked at Sandy Hook for two weeks, as a talented special needs teacher Not forgotten: Snow blankets the ground as red stockings paying tribute to victims of the Sandy Hook shooting line the fence surrounding the Sandy Hook Cemetery in Newtown Day of sadness: A sign sits at a snow-covered memorial for the Sandy Hook victims on Christmas Day

One of her college friends told the LA Times that: 'She was one of the funniest, loudest, happiest people ever,' said the friend, who asked that she remained anonymous out of respect for the family.

'She was willing to do absolutely anything for the kids she worked with.'

Rachel's friend said that she was well-known for dressing up and singing songs to the children during activities.

She was laid to rest after a funeral in her hometown of Bethlehem, Connecticut on December 21.



Pictured: The empty seat at Christmas dinner table for Sandy Hook teacher who was buried with the engagement ring she never received
