Smart, funny, fond of animals, soccer

Uvalde, Texas – She wrote notes to her family, hid them for later finding and loved feeding animals on the family ranch. He liked to sit in the back of the school bus to talk to other kids.

Family members had funerals for the two 10-year-olds, Makenna Elrod and Rojelio Torres, on Saturday. They were among 19 students killed in one mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, along with two teachers.

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Makenna Lee Elrod

Her family requested 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.”

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She was full of life and loved softball, gymnastics, and singing and dancing, her family said. She was a member of the 4-H Club who loved going to the family ranch with her father.

The 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,” one aunt wrote on a GoFundMe page. “She had the biggest heart and loved her family and friends so much.”

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Rojelio Fernandez Torres

Every morning when he got on the school bus, he asked to be seated in the back because that’s where the “visitor” is, his school bus driver said The Associated Press. He’s “like a bull,” funny and charismatic, she said. He loved hot takis.

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He got up at 5:30 a.m. that morning to get ready for school, the Wall Street Journal reported. An aunt told KSAT-TV from San Antonio that Rojelio was intelligent and hardworking.

His family described him in the obituary on the funeral home’s website as outgoing and “always willing to help.” Rojelio loved being outdoors and his hobbies included Pokémon, soccer, 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.”

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More on the shooting in Uvalde, Texas: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting