As part of his acceptance speech for the Republican vice-presidential nomination in 1920, Calvin Coolidge cautioned the nation against abandoning its social contract with the men and women in uniform who defend our freedoms.

“The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten,” the then-future 30th president prophesied.

The quote he used may be attributed to Byzantine emperor Maurice, whose reign during the fifth century was troubled by almost constant warfare.

On Memorial Day weekend, the nation remembers the service of those who sacrificed their lives for us in past wars and conflicts. This year, the victims in last week’s horrific mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, were also mourned.

Last Thursday - the last day of school on the school calendar - teachers Eva Mireles, 44, and Irma Garcia, 46, were expected to be packing up their shared classroom at Robb Elementary, and preparing for the summer break. But the two educators and 19 of their students never made it.

According to John Martinez, Garcia’s nephew, after the carnage ended, his aunt was found by officers embracing children in her arms pretty much until her last breath.

“She sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom. She was a hero,” he wrote on a fundraising page.

According to the school’s website, Garcia was in her 23rd year in the classroom at Robb Elementary. In 2019 she won an excellence in teaching award and she was excitedly optimistic when the current school year began.

“I am so excited to begin this new school year already!” she exalted in her school biography.

Garcia and her husband, Joe, were married for 24 years and had four children: Cristian, who is training as a Marine; Jose, who attends Texas State University; Lyliana, a sophomore in high school; and Alysandra, a seventh-grader.

Garcia’s Facebook page was filled with family memories and brimmed with the pride she had for her children.

“Thank you Jesus for my amazing husband and my babies,” she wrote under one photo of a family fishing trip.

The dedication she had for her students also showed in another social media post.

“Learned so many new ways to challenge my future students to be independent learners,” she wrote.

Entering her 17th year of teaching, Eva Mireles, a certified in special education and bilingual education, left an enthusiastic - but now haunting message - at the start of the school year.

“We have a wonderful year ahead of us,” she posted.

After first hearing of the shootings and rushing to Robb Elementary, Ruben Ruiz, a police officer for the school district and Mireles’ husband, had to be held back by other officers as he desperately tried to get to his wife. In his first posting of his wife’s death, he tweeted that Eva sacrificed herself protecting the kids in her classroom and “died a HERO.”

“You are so known by so many now, and I’m so happy that people know your name and that beautiful face of yours and they know what a hero looks like,” wrote Mireles’ daughter Adalynn, a college graduate. “I don’t know how to do this life without you, but I will take care of dad. I will take care of our dogs and I will forever say your name so you are always remembered.”

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, a decade ago, which left 20 children and six educators dead, the National Memorial to Fallen Educators was created in Emporia, Kansas, to honor school workers who died “in the line of duty.”

On June 17, Mireles’ and Garcia’s names will be engraved onto the monument.

Natalie Arias, an education specialist who lives in Uvalde, along with scores of others whose lives were touched by the two slain educators, feel they deserve such an everlasting tribute.

“Eva Mireles and Irma Garcia were two of the greatest teachers Uvalde, has ever known,” Arias wrote. “Their classroom was full of fun, growth, giggles, teamwork, and, most of all, love.”

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.