Terese Chiames Caire, 57, La Cañada Flintridge

Terese Chiames Caire, the daughter of a school administrator in Fresno, knew early in life what she wanted to do for a living. She wanted to teach, not just because it was a noble profession, but because a school- day schedule would make it easier to have a family and spend time with her own children. “There were 735 people at our wedding,” said John Caire, who married Terese on Sept. 5, 1992, at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Fresno.

John and Terese settled in Los Angeles, where he was a general contractor and Terese became a teacher in Sherman Oaks. She later took a job in La Cañada Flintridge, where she taught for nearly 30 years, mostly at Palm Crest Elementary, where she most recently taught third grade.

The Caires raised two children, Maria and John Paul, now 22 and 21, and the family attended services together at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Church in Pasadena for many years. Terese embraced her Serbian and Greek heritage and competed in Greek dance events.

Though she taught with great energy and spirit, and enjoyed even the nightly task of grading papers and planning the next day’s class, Terese loved nothing more than time with family. The Caires traveled the country and the world together, and they had a tradition of uniting at the dinner table each evening in La Cañada Flintridge, without the distraction of television or electronic devices, to catch up with each other over meals prepared by Terese.

In late March, all four members of the Caire family got sick, but none of them had a worse case of COVID- 19 than Terese. One night, John Paul lifted his ailing mother over his shoulder and carried her downstairs. John, despite his own poor health, drove his wife to the nearest emergency room.

Over the next month, Terese fought for her life. She’d had no significant underlying conditions other than occasional respiratory problems, but the virus ravaged her body. She seemed to rebound on two occasions, only to decline again. She died on April 29 at the age of 57.

“Terese had students who grew up and had babies, and she knew those kids too,” John Caire said.

Among those many students were the sons of former L. A. Times columnist Chris Erskine, who wrote a tribute to Caire after her death: “Terese was more Greek than Zorba. “Both my sons had her at Palm Crest, and … she … made them excited to come to school each day, something young boys are not always prone to do.

“Mrs. Caire was different: She would dance on desks ( like Zorba); she would light up the campus with her smile. “Terese Chiames Caire was born to teach. And teach she did.” In addition to her husband and children, Terese is survived by her mother, Anita, and brothers Chris and Paul Chiames. Paul has begun a campaign to establish a National Day of Remembrance for all those who have been lost to and affected by COVID- 19.

— Steve Lopez