Portage,IN : Portage family, friends mourn newlyweds killed in car crash in France on August, Thursday 17th 2017

Elizabeth Gertzen and Mayra Mace-Martinez met in the fifth grade.

"We instantly became best friends and I quickly became one of their family," recalled Gertzen, who's now a teacher for Portage Township Schools.

They remained the closest of friends from childhood to adulthood.

"There were months when we would see each other every day, even on weekends and holidays," Gertzen said. "Our sleepovers will probably be my favorite memory. We'd stay up late, drink energy drinks, dance, talk, and eat really bad snacks all night long."

When Gertzen got married, there was no doubt who would serve as her matron of honor.

"We did everything together," Gertzen said.

Mace-Martinez took part in several academic and extracurricular activities while at Portage High School, from the swim team and choral to stage musicals and the school's Distinguished Young Women competition in 2010.

"Mayra was one of the most amazing people you could ever hope to meet," said Andrea Flynn, her French teacher at PHS. "She was one of the most passionate, enthusiastic students I have ever had in my teaching career, and this is my 19th year."

In the summer of 2010, Mace-Martinez studied in France, where a few years later she would meet the love of her life.

She graduated in 2011 from PHS in the top 20 of her class, receiving a scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. While there, she studied abroad in France once again in the spring of 2014, one of several countries she visited including Mexico, England, Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain.

While in France, she met a charming French man named Jeremy Mace.

"They quickly hit it off," Gertzen said.

When Mayra returned home, she told Gertzen all about the "French boy" she began dating.

"Of course I was a skeptic due to the long distance," Gertzen said.

However, in fall 2014, Mace traveled to Indiana to live with Mace-Martinez. By the time he left in early 2015, the couple were engaged. On June 13, 2016, they got married in a brief, informal ceremony in Valparaiso. They were deeply in love.

Mace-Martinez graduated from Notre Dame in 2015 with a double major in anthropology and French, with dreams of becoming a high school English teacher in France, her husband's homeland. Her fluency in French started early.

"I remember the first day I had her in my class, she sat in the center of the front row, leaning forward and smiling," Flynn said. "That eagerness never faded."

Gertzen added, "She was very passionate about civil rights, immigration, education and equality for all. Her mission was that of peace, love and acceptance.

Mace-Martinez took all these accomplished attributes with her to France to live with her new husband and begin their new life together. They moved to an apartment in Belligne, just outside of her husband's hometown of Angers.

"She told me she didn't plan to come back to the states for at least three years," Gertzen said.

On Aug. 6, as a male friend drove the couple in his BMW on a rural road near Belligne, the driver lost control of his car and hit a tree head-on.

"The car was literally cut in half," according to a story posted on the Life in France news site, CHB44.com.

"The three died instantly," Gertzen said. "Mayra was just 24."

"Mayra was an amazing person," said her sister, Arisdelssy Martinez, of Portage. "She thrived. A beautiful soul. My first best friend."

Both families felt it necessary to keep the couple together in burial, so their bodies are being transported to Portage for interment. Flynn is working as an interpreter for the Mace family and also with the French government in order to claim the bodies.

"It amazes me the cost of this whole process. Just to get her body back to the states will cost $10,000," Gertzen said, noting a fundraising page has been established.

She is survived by her parents, Lino and Maria Martinez, her brothers Sergio and Aaron Martinez, and her sister. Visitation will start at 3 p.m. Sunday at Edmonds and Evans Funeral Home in Portage. The couple's funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Lake Station.

"As I have been grieving over her death, I have come to realize what an incredible impact she did have on this world in her short life," Flynn said. "She made other peoples' lives better."

On July 29, Mace-Martinez's last words to Gertzen focused on having a baby.

"Mayra wanted kids, and we were talking about the differences between maternity leave times in France versus here," Gertzen said.

"She and Jeremy were going to go to the beach and go camping to relax during their vacation time in August. I didn't want to bother her during her vacation."

"Mayra left this earth with the love of her life," her sister said.

"Their love was short, fast, and true," Gertzen said. "But it's kind of strange how they met their fate in the same way."



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Portage family, friends mourn newlyweds killed in car crash in France