EASTHAMPTON — Ryan Pickard recalls the care and passion in Paula Garcia’s detailed emails.

Pickard, a former fourth grade teacher at the now-closed Maple Street School, collaborated with Garcia on an anti-idling campaign in 2019. But truth be told, she said, it was Garcia who took the lead on the campaign.

She taught the students facts about money and gas wasted from idling cars. She helped students count the minutes parents spent sitting in cars, then calculated the amount of gas wasted from idling. She created signs with the students and posted them all over the school to raise awareness about idling cars. She even drafted an anti-idling contract for students to take home to their parents.

And when she wasn’t in the classroom to work on the project with the students, Garcia would send Pickard emails.

“She would write these long emails explaining things, and then she would check in with me to make sure everything went well, how the students were doing, how everything was going,” Pickard said. “She was cheerful, kind, she went the extra mile with everything she did.”

Whether it was teaching, matching foreign exchange students with host families or caring for her three children, those who knew Garcia remember she brought this level of commitment to everything she accomplished. Garcia’s husband, Joe Bock, said often his wife’s drive to improve the world came from her desire to enrich and protect the lives of others.

“She was always very concerned about other people’s happiness and not so much her own. She encouraged me to do things for my own fun, and that went for everybody,” Bock said. “She did also like to have fun and celebrate life. Every birthday was a big party, every holiday.”

Garcia never made it to her own 53th birthday. About a month ago, while returning home from visiting her father and five brothers in Spain, the taxi she was riding in early on the morning of Jan. 9 decelerated on I-91 in Hartford, causing the truck behind to hit the car. Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene, a day before her birthday. At her memorial on Jan. 20, hundreds of members of the Easthampton community came together to mourn the mother, climate activist and teacher.

“She had so many friends in the community. Her memorial was beautiful. It was such a tribute to the woman she was,” said Judy Averill, the former principal of Maple Street School who now leads Mountain View School.

Serving others, family

Averill remembers Garcia as someone who was always in service to others. She first met Garcia and Bock when their oldest daughter attended Maple Elementary and became more acquainted with her as each of Garcia’s children passed through the halls of Maple and Mountain View schools.

Averill said Garcia was a parent who always dropped off donations for school charity events and always had holiday presents for teachers and staff. She even was substitute teaching at Leeds Elementary School and RKF Ryan Road Elementary School in Northampton before her passing.

The last time Averill spoke to Garcia, she teased her about coming to substitute at Mountain View, but Garcia was committed to granting her children autonomy from their mother at school.

“She said, ‘I want to give my children the space to do their thing in this school,’ ” Averill said. “It was just really sweet that she wanted to be involved in schools, but because of her own children’s autonomy she wanted to do it a district over.”

Husband Bock said Garcia put her family first, whether it was both her parents and her brothers, Bock himself or Garcia’s three kids — two daughters, in ninth grade and seventh grade and a son in third grade. The couple both taught English as a second language while living in Spain, but Garcia left teaching to focus on raising her family.

“She wanted to spend as much time with her kids in the early years as possible. She’d take them to the library (and) to playgroups. She was always looking for things to do,” Bock said.

Foreign exchange influence

During her time as a stay-at-home mother in 2008, Garcia and Bock started HomeStaysUSA, a foreign exchange program for children in Spain to experience New England. The program offers Spanish children a chance to learn about other cultures, practice conversing in English and interact with children their age. Each child gets matched with a host brother or host sister, an American child around the exchange child’s age to bond with.

As part of the host family matching process, Garcia would spend time with a prospective host family to ensure the exchange child would feel safe and secure during their stay.

When Pickard hosted a teenager from Spain, Garcia came over to her home to meet her family, view the space the teen would stay in and discuss possible matches. Then she continued to email Pickard throughout the teenager’s stay, checking in to ensure the experience was going well.

“Paula would always do diligence, but it was more than that,” said Kasey Corsello, who hosted a girl from Spain for a couple of summers. “She had the ability and the gift of finding a perfect pair to connect with, because her whole vision and philosophy is that it should be a mutually beautiful experience. They can learn from each other and have experiences that last a lifetime.”

Corsello witnessed this magic when she hosted a girl from Spain when her daughter Camilla was in fourth grade. Corsello was initially nervous about hosting a 10-year-old child, but all her fear melted away the evening after her exchange child Johanna’s first morning.

“My daughter and Johanna, they were laying in bed together, just snuggling. They were bonded for life. She felt like another one of my children. It was so wonderful,” she said.

Environment protector

In addition to her work with HomeStaysUSA, Garcia fought to protect the environment through various anti-idling campaigns with children and participation in Mothers Out Front, a climate justice nonprofit.

Bock said his wife brought her activism home, encouraging him to install solar panels on their roof and buy an electric car. He did his best to support her, driving out to Boston for a climate march and watching her swim to raise money and awareness for research into idling.

“She was all of these things, but she was mom first,” Corsello said. “She cared so deeply about her children and her children’s future. That’s why she did what she did. She cared so much for their future and not just her kids but all kids.”

Bock said Garcia showed him the importance of thinking beyond oneself, whether it’s idling in a car or traveling a country. He’s still mourning the loss of his wife.

“In a way, it still feels like she’s here. We’re still mourning, we’re continuing the HomeStaysUSA program without her, but it won’t be the same. Nothing will be the same,” he said.

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.