Victoria Soto, the Newtown teacher from Stratford who died protecting her students, will be remembered in her hometown with a memorial road.
The Stratford Town Council Monday approved a decision to add a memorial designation to North Parade Street, the road that runs in front of Stratford High School, where Soto graduated from in 2003.
“All in all this is (a) great idea,” Councilman Jason Santi told Stratford Patch in an email. “It was an honor to support it.”
Santi said the memorial designation, Victoria Soto Way or Vicki Soto Way, whichever the family prefers, will “coexist side by side” with the sign for North Parade Street. He said completely renaming the street could have led to some confusion with mail delivery for residents on the street.
“This kind of approach is taken with other renaming or honoring of existing streets around the area,” Santi said.
Soto was one of six educators killed in the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The tragedy claimed the lives of 20 first-grade students.
In the massacre’s aftermath, however, came a story of remarkable bravery. With the shock still tender, the story of how Victoria Soto shielded her students from gunfire, selflessly giving her life to save those of her adoring first-graders, was news that circled the globe over.
“You are in so many people’s hearts,” Soto’s sister, Jillian, said at her big sister’s funeral. “For the 19 children you protected you were an angel (and) you’ve been my hero my entire life.”
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