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NORTH PORT (FOX 13) - Messages, pictures, and memories are all North Port High School students have left of their teacher Antoinette Gordon.
"Friday morning, she showed up like any other morning, just ready to teach her heart out with those kids. And 12 hours later, it was over," said principal David Jones.
A few hours after the school bell rang to end the day Friday, Gordon met her estranged husband at a McDonalds in Charlotte County to swap custody of their son. After she got there, Hugh Gordon pulled out a gun and killed Antoinette and then himself.
The shootings happened in front of their young son.
North Port High principal David Jones received the news Saturday morning.
"There is genuine grief, incredible sense of loss in dealing with it," he said.
Mrs. Gordon taught English and language arts at North Port High for about 10 years. In that time, she had about a thousand kids come through her classroom.
Principal Jones said she treated each like her own son and only wanted them to succeed and to move on.
"Ann was a huge believer in 'You never throw in the towel. You don't quit and it doesn't matter what obstacles are in front of you, you press on,'" said Jones.
Mrs. Gordon taught the upper classmen. She even formed a mentoring group for young females.
In one month, she would have watched many of her students graduate.
"She was one of those people that came in the classroom and the glow lit up her face. She brightened the classroom and she was so focused on the students there are it was so obvious to them," said Assistant Principal Shannon Fusco.
As the messages from current and former students fill the school hallway, those who knew Mrs. Gordon know she will never be forgotten.
"She is going to be dearly missed, but she certainly won't be forgotten. I'm hoping many of those attributes she wanted to build in her kids will be her legacy," Jones added.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the couple's son: https://www.gofundme.com/forann