JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A nun who used to teach at Assumption Catholic School in Jacksonville died in Saturday's earthquake in Ecuador.
Sister Clare Crockett taught at Assumption for three years before moving to Spain, and then Ecuador to teach.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Sunday evening that 272 people died in the magnitude-7.8 quake, and that number was expected to rise as rescue teams continued to dig through the rubble.
Crockett, 33, was originally from Northern Ireland and worked as an actress before becoming a nun at the age of 18. She traveled the world teaching children.
Channel 4's Tom Wills also interviewed Crockett in 2007 for a story called "What is a Christian?"
WATCH: "What is a Christian?" with Sister Clare
In the story, Crockett said, "A Christian is a disciple of Christ. It's someone who follows Christ. Now when we say we are Christians, and to be a true Christian, we have to follow Christ, not only with our words, but also with our actions and our lives."
News4Jax spoke with those who worked alongside her in Ecuador and Jacksonville.
Sister Megan Maria, Sister Mary and Crockett were all servant sisters of the Home of the Mother. They served together in Spain and Ecuador, where Crockett had been teaching since 2011.
Maria and Mary said it's hard not to smile when they think about Crockett and the times they spent together teaching, singing and laughing.
"All the pictures you always find of her, like the (photo of her playing) guitar, she is laughing," said Maria. "She was just hilarious and she brought a lot of joy."
Those memories are making the weight of her unexpected death a little easier to bear, they said.
"She had a special gift with the youth and with the children she always had (when) she was always surrounded by them," Maria said. "She was always very joyful."
It was a gift she brought to Jacksonville, teaching at Assumption from 2006 to 2009.
Father Fred Parke said Crockett was loved by the students at the school and will be missed by all whose lives she touched.
"She was like a bright star," Parke said. "She was always laughing, always smiling and joking. You know, the kids loved her because she would tease them and they would tease her back. She just could mingle with everybody."
It's knowing their sister died serving the Lord that they said is bringing them peace.
"(It) was exactly where God wanted her to be and so I think you have to live in faith with those kind of things, that a person, if they are doing what God wants them, when the Lord calls them, they are ready," said Mary.
The church is planning to have a Mass in remembrance of Crockett.