Metro

Heroic Newtown teacher called ‘superhero’ at emotional funeral

She’s their “superhero.”

The selfless Newtown teacher who died shielding her students from a gunman’s assault rifle was remembered by her two kid sisters yesterday as a best friend, an inspiration and the bravest person they had ever known.

Victoria Soto, 27, “gave her life to save her kids, and if that’s not true strength and heroism, I don’t know what is,” said her weeping sister Carlee Soto, 20, in a stirring eulogy.

“The expression ‘You don’t know what you have until it’s gone’ is true. My best friend is gone.”

And Jillian Soto, 24, said her sister’s fearless act was something usually heard of only in Hollywood movies.

“Somebody wrote me a letter about the recent tragedy that I would like to share with you. In it, it said they had to sit down with three small children, explaining to them that monsters, sadly, do exist out there,” a weeping Jillian told more than 1,000 mourners at Lordship Community Church in Stratford.

“But they felt relief that because of my sister, they were able to tell them that superheroes also are very real.

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“You are my superhero and I am so proud of you and all you have done in your 27 short years.”

Singer/songwriter Paul Simon sang his haunting classic “The Sound of Silence” in the packed church, as Victoria was sent off with seven eulogies, from her sisters, best friend, aunt and three cousins.

Many mourners wore ties, scarves and ribbons that were green, Soto’s favorite color.

“It kills me that I’m never going to say, ‘I love you’ one last time to her,” said Carlee, who credited Victoria with pushing her to enroll in college.

“The pain is unbelievable, but I know I can get through this thanks to Queen Victoria watching down on me.

“I love you so much, Vicki. And I am beyond proud to say I am Victoria Leigh Soto’s little sister.”

The photograph of an anguished Carlee desperately clutching a cellphone last Friday outside Sandy Hook Elementary School instantly became an iconic image of the tragedy.

Carlee didn’t know at the time that Adam Lanza had already murdered Victoria, along with six other adults and 20 children only 6 and 7 years old, before killing himself.

As the shooting began in another room, Victoria herded her first-graders into a closet. When six of the terrified youngsters tried to bolt from the room, Lanza shot them and Victoria as she tried to shield them from his bullets.

“Over the past five days, people have been thinking of you as a hero, many hoping that they could do the things that you have done to touch the lives of so many, whether it be through your actions on that terrifying morning, or through the way that you brought curiosity, excitement and joy to your students every day,” Jillian said as dad Carlos, mom Donna and brother Carlos Jr. also looked on.

“Each of those are reasons why you are in so many people’s hearts, but truthfully, you have been a hero to me for a lot longer than five days,” Jillian said.

“You have been my big sister, the one I’ve always looked up to, the one I’ve always wanted to be like.

“You are beautiful, smart, funny, goofy and you had an amazing smile.”

The Rev. Meg Boxwell Williams offered a prayer thanking God for giving the mourners a “homebody” who was the “ringleader” of a group of cousins, a Yankee fan and a lover of Swedish meatballs.

“We thank you that she achieved her life’s goal to be a teacher of young children. And we thank you that her last act was absolutely selfless, Christ-like, in laying down her life for her children,” Williams said

Victoria’s best friend and college-dorm roommate, Rachel Schiavone, told mourners she “was strong and totally fearless, and it doesn’t surprise me at all that Vicki died protecting her kids.”

“She loved them more than anything, and bragged that this year she had the best first-grade class ever.”

Schiavone drew laughs with an anecdote from their days at Eastern Connecticut State University, when Victoria blasted the song “Kiss the Girl” from her favorite movie “The Little Mermaid” as Schiavone sat in the next room with a boy.

“I knew what she was trying to do, though I don’t think the boy ever picked up on it,” Schiavone said.

Hours after the funeral, Carlee Soto posted a Twitter message saying, Yankees star “Derek Jeter just called my mom!!!!!