Foster mom, teacher's assistant 'tried to help as many kids as she could' before COVID-19 death

The people who loved Monica Meyer, an elementary school teacher’s assistant and mother of four children, won’t have many photographs to remember her by. She was always the one who held the camera.

The Kentucky woman put others first, her ex-husband Chris Meyer said Thursday.

“The sparkle she brought out in kids, you just saw it,” Meyer said. "She tried to touch as many people as she could. Help as many kids as she could."

Monica Meyer died Monday night, shortly after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Chris Meyer had spoken to her only a few hours beforehand.

“She went to bed,” he said. “If it’s a blessing of any kind, she just didn’t wake up.”

He and their four children have no doubt that she touched thousands of lives during her time with them. The Meyers were foster parents, and Monica was well-known for the love she showed her students at Southern Elementary School.

“I'm actually a preschool teacher,” said Madison Meyer, the couple’s 21-year-old daughter. “I think she taught me how to love other people. How to look past our differences."

The Meyers family hopes that her spirit — a light in the school and in their community — will inspire others to live with love and consider fostering for themselves.

Chris created a GoFundMe to help with expenses in the wake of her death.

This story was originally published by Jake Ryle at WCPO.