Lauren Gabrielle Rousseau
June 8, 1982 – December 14, 2012
A longtime friend said, “If she didn’t have a smile on her face, she was trying to make someone else feel like smiling.”
Lauren was born in the Danbury Hospital. She was a graduate of the University of Connecticut in 2004 with a degree in English and psychology. She received her master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Bridgeport. She interned for a year at the Robert Avenue School. In Milford, she was a student teacher at John Pettibone School and then worked as a substitute teacher in Danbury, New Milford and Newtown. SHES hired her as a permanent substitute teacher just weeks before her death. [1]
Lauren, after receiving her master’s degree faced a negative economy when teachers were being laid off. She worked at Starbucks and in the catering business and was a substitute teacher. In 2006-2007, she had health issues which resulted in surgery. Luckily, she was still living in the home in which she grew up. She had the full emotional support of her mother, Terri Rousseau; her stepfather, Bill Leukhardt; her father, Gilles Rousseau; and his wife, Joyce. Gilles and Terri Rousseau had divorced when Lauren was ten. She maintained her dream of being a teacher “from before she even went to kindergarten.” [2] [3]
In October 2012, Rousseau accepted a full-time assignment as a substitute at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. “She went to work every day and filled in where she was needed. On December 14, she took over a first-grade class for a teacher out on leave.” She also met and fell in love with Anthony Lusardi of Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. On December 14, Lauren had planned to meet up with Lusardi and one of her best friends, Kari Stewart. Lauren “exchanged text messages on the morning of December 14, as they did every morning. Lusardi asked her if she was ready for the big night.” She responded positively. “That was 8:58 a.m. It was her last text message to Lusardi.” [4]
Lauren’s family and friends waited until after midnight to learn of her death. Her friend, Kari Stewart said, “We were all just waiting, waiting, waiting. Tony and I…we were trying to stay hopeful. Maybe she was hurt … maybe she was just in shock. Then the police asked Terri for pictures of Lauren. It was just so, so hard to hear what happened.” Lusardi said, “I thought she might still be coming home, maybe hysterical…but she never came home.” Lauren had a cat that she adored named Laila. The Rousseau-Leukhardt family is caring for Laila now. [5]
Lauren was so excited about her job at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Giles said, “Lauren would call me most every day on the way to or from school to tell me, in detail, about the children and her classes. I loved to listen, but sometimes, after 30 minutes, I’d have to say, ‘Lauren, I have to get some of this work done.’ She also talked a great deal to my wife, Joyce, who is a retired teacher. ‘What would you do here, Joyce?’ ‘How would you handle this?’ I think she was having the best time of her life as a teacher. She was very happy about that, and her relationship with Tony. She had love in her life.” [6]
The funeral for Lauren Rousseau was held at the First Congregational Church on Deer Hill Avenue in Danbury, Connecticut.

Mourners file into the funeral service for Lauren Rousseau,a substitute teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, at First Congregation Church in Dansbury, CT.(Thursday,December 20, 2012). Staff Photo by Nancy Lane

Funeral service for Lauren Rousseau, Staff Photo by Nancy Lane
Mourners embrace at the funeral service for Lauren Rousseau at the First Congregation Church. Photographer Nancy Lane, Thursday, December 20, 2012

Photographer Nancy Lane, Thursday, December 20, 2012
Teresa Rousseau and Bill Leukhardt, mother and stepfather of slain Sandy Hook Elementary teacher Lauren Rousseau, hold a picture of their daughter in front of their home in Danbury, Connecticut, (Anthony Delmundo for New York Daily News)
Gilles Rousseau, standing next to clergy, holds a framed photo of his daughter Lauren Rousseau after her memorial service at the First Congregational Church in Danbury, Connecticut. Thursday, December 20, 2012. Photo by Peter Hvizdak / New Haven Register
“It was the best year of her life,” said Teresa Rousseau, Lauren’s mother and a copy editor at The News-Times. Lauren grew up in Danbury and lived in her family home in Danbury, with Teresa and her partner, William Leukhardt. See Lauren’s obituary for a list of her extensive family.
Lauren Rousseau was unable to lock the door to her first-grade classroom because she did not have a key. AL walked into classroom 8 and murdered her, fourteen of her fifteen students; and her aide, Rachel D’Avino. [7]
Eyewitness News asked Gilles Rousseau if he took any solace in knowing Lauren Rousseau died doing what she loved. “Yes, better than had she died in a car accident, even though it was horrible. I know she was standing in front of the kids taking the first bullets.” [8]
Teresa Rousseau speaks while Bill Lavin of the Sandy Ground Playground Project holds up a childhood photo of Lauren Rousseau.
(Paula Scully/Staff Photo)
[1] Lauren Rousseau, Obituary, News Times, http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/newstimes/obituary.aspx?pid=161797784; retrieved 12/18/2017
[2] Josh Kovner, Lauren Rousseau Never Let Go Of Her Dream, Hartford Courant, 1/3/2013, http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/newtown-sandy-hook-school-shooting/hc-lauren-rosseau-newtown-0101-20121231-story.html; retrieved 1/4/2018
[3] Mark Langlois, Lauren Gabrielle Rousseau’s Funeral, Patch Staff, 12/20/2012, https://patch.com/connecticut/danbury/lauren-gabrielle-rousseau-s-funeral; retrieved 12/12/2017
[4] Josh Kovner, Lauren Rousseau Never Let Go Of Her Dream, Hartford Courant, 1/3/2013, http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/newtown-sandy-hook-school-shooting/hc-lauren-rosseau-newtown-0101-20121231-story.html; retrieved 1/4/2018
[5] Josh Kovner, Lauren Rousseau Never Let Go Of Her Dream, Hartford Courant, 1/3/2013, http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/newtown-sandy-hook-school-shooting/hc-lauren-rosseau-newtown-0101-20121231-story.html; retrieved 1/4/2018
[6] Josh Kovner, Lauren Rousseau Never Let Go Of Her Dream, Hartford Courant, 1/3/2013, http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/newtown-sandy-hook-school-shooting/hc-lauren-rosseau-newtown-0101-20121231-story.html; retrieved 1/4/2018
[7] Francis X. Clines, The Final Post-Mortem on Sandy Hook, New York Times, 3/13/2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/opinion/the-final-post-mortem-on-sandy-hook.html; retrieved 1/4/2018
[8] Dennis House, Joseph Wenzel, Family, friends remember Lauren Rousseau, Cleveland 19 News, http://www.cleveland19.com/story/24205849/family-friends-remember-lauren-rousseau; retrieved 1/4/2018
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