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Rose Mary Blackwell, a second-grade teacher, had celebrated 20 years at Travis World Language Academy, and Paul, a gym teacher and football coach at Fannin Middle School, had worked at the school for five years, the Grand Prairie Independent School District wrote in a Facebook post.
“Rose Mary and Paul will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their family, friends, co-workers, and students both current and former,” the district said. “Counselors will be on both campuses this week to provide additional support for staff and students.”
Teacher unions in Texas are among several groups lobbying for priority in vaccine administration, The Dallas Morning News reported. Monty Exter, a lobbyist for the Association of Texas Professional Educators, told the newspaper vaccinating teachers would have positive trickledown effects. When teachers contract the virus, instruction often has to go online. “You’re shutting down a whole classroom and so that makes school reopening quite a bit more challenging,” he said. There have been more than 1.3 million coronavirus cases in Texas and more than 23,900 related deaths, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Shawn and his brother, Brandon Blackwell, organized a GoFundMe page to pay funeral expenses for their parents. It had raised more than $51,000 by Thursday morning. “They left behind many, many loved ones which includes their children, their wives, 20 grandchildren, sisters, brothers, cousins, nieces, nephews & parents,” the brothers said. “We are all at a loss for words at this time but want to thank everyone for their continued prayers. We are trying to take care of all the arrangements at this time so any help would be greatly at this time.”
Shawn told CNN he doesn’t want his parents’ legacy to be forgotten. “I just want people to know I am proud of the people my mom and dad were and proud of the things they accomplished,” he said. “They were the definition of the greatest parents and grandparents ever.”
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