There was a lot that Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, or Lexi, was looking forward to: practicing softball and basketball with her father, playing volleyball in the seventh grade and learning about feminism.
The fourth-grader got straight A’s in elementary school and was awarded a good citizenship award.
“Our baby wanted to be a lawyer; she wanted to make a difference,” her mother, Kimberly Rubio, told The New York Times.
Lexi’s dreams were, however, cut short when she and 20 others were gunned down on May 24, 2022 in a mass shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
In an extensive obituary on Lexi, her family described her as “fierce, with a beautiful, contagious smile that more often than not turned into a hearty laugh.”
“She was sarcastic, but caring, giving,” they added.
As a fourth-grader, Lexi’s aspirations were to earn a softball scholarship to St. Mary’s University, where she planned to major in math, before attending law school to become a lawyer, her family said.
They said Lexi jumped at any opportunity to help her mom, a current student at St. Mary’s, with technology-based assignments.
Like her father, Lexi played softball and basketball, and they both relished the time they spent practicing, one-on-one. She was so committed to the sports, she would practice on her own while he was at work, in advance of their sessions. Their playful banter, on topics from practice and school to his no-boyfriends rule, made his heart swell with girl-dad pride. His little girl was opinionated and an impassioned debater, just like her mother.
Last season, her first time playing youth basketball, her team, the Spurs, won the championship.
Alexandria had mastered the math portion of the STAAR tests, and she was not looking forward to the end of the school year, which meant not seeing her friends and beloved teacher every day.
She enjoyed talking on the phone with her friends and watching them play softball.
Her closest clique comprised her siblings. Fishing and sports with dad, cuddling up on the couch reading or watching TV with mom, or reciting jokes to each other in the living room to see who would be the first to laugh were favorite activities.
She liked to bake cookies – chocolate chip or sugar cookies with sprinkles – with her Mary, her maternal great-grandmother.
Like her mother, snacks were a great motivator: popcorn with cheese accompanied by pickle shots were a must for movie night, a little chocolate with breakfast helped start the day out right, mint chocolate chip ice cream couldn’t be beat, pasta with Alfredo sauce was the perfect birthday or any-day dish, and her siblings fondly talk about the Lexi burger – a McDonald’s cheeseburger, plain and dry, with nuggets and fries inside.
Her Starbucks order consisted of a sweetened tall peach green tea lemonade paired with a cake pop – chocolate or birthday cake flavored. She loved bright colors, yellow, purple, pink, turquoise, and her family hopes those mourning Alexandria will wear brightly-colored clothing in her honor.
She looked up to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, happy to share a name and birth month with the young Congresswoman.
She looked forward to one day visiting Australia and wanted to live in a city where snow is a regular occurrence. The South Texas weather was not her favorite.
Alexandria looked to TikTok, YouTube and Roblox, as well as playing Rock Paper Scissors with her mom, to combat boredom. Though with five siblings, adoring parents and grandparents, and a revolving door of cousins, “bored” wasn’t a word she uttered often.
Her siblings, ranging in age from 8 to 18, are taking solace in their memories of her, and their knowledge of how much she loved them.
All images of Alexandria Aniyah Rubio reproduced from her tribute video on rekfunerals.com
* Tribute adapted from Lexi’s official obituary on rekfunerals.com
