By Adriana M. Chavez / El Paso Times

EL PASO -- Dec. 20 was supposed to have been the happiest day of Rafael Nigaglioni's life.

But the joy turned into tragedy.

Around 8 p.m., just hours after marrying his wife, Tina-Marie, Rafael Nigaglioni's mother, Amalia "Margie" Sartori, 62, was struck by a hit-and-run driver in the 1300 block of Murchison, just outside of the newlyweds' home.

Sartori had come to El Paso for her son's wedding and was staying at his home. After the wedding, she went out for a walk on the dimly lit street and was struck by the car, Nigaglioni said.

Police at the time said they did not have a description of the car, but asked the public look out for a car with extensive front-end damage.

Sartori was declared brain dead the day after she was hit, more than 24 hours after she had danced at the wedding with her son to the Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings." She remained on life support for about three more days so her organs could be harvested for donation.

To this day, Nigaglioni has a hard time looking at his wedding pictures and seeing his mother's face. After she died, he asked his new wife to hide all the photos of his mother, except for one he hung up to remind him of better days.

Instead of dwelling on his mother's death, Nigaglioni and his three sisters have started the Margie's Kids Foundation to raise money for a reward to find the driver who hit Sartori, and also to raise donations to continue Sartori's legacy of helping others, especially needy children.

Moving to Leesville, S.C., from El Paso in 1991, Sartori, under her married name Nigaglioni, taught at Canyon Hills Middle School, but decided to pursue a master's degree to become a middle-school counselor. After marrying Gene Sartori and moving to South Carolina, she became a counselor at Sanders Middle School in Columbia, S.C. She was hoping to eventually earn her doctorate.

"Her life was the development of children," Rafael Nigaglioni said.

After working with several children from underprivileged families at Sanders Middle, she decided to "adopt" two or three families twice a year -- at the beginning of the school year and at Christmas -- and take children in those families shopping for clothing. She paid for the clothing out of her own pocket, Nigaglioni said.

"She took on as much as she could afford to," Tina-Marie Nigaglioni said.

Sartori had hoped to one day offer scholarships to some of the children she helped. After she died, the Nigaglionis decided to make some of Sartori's dreams come true by starting the foundation in her name.

"Her life was helping people," Rafael Nigaglioni said.

The decision to donate Sartori's organs was difficult, but she had requested that they be harvested in her living will.

According to the Southwest Transplant Alliance, her liver went to a 58-year-old man with two children and five grandchildren who enjoys traveling, fishing and golfing, one of Sartori's favorite pastimes. The women who received Sartori's kidneys, a 43-year-old and a 52-year-old, are both involved in educating young children.

Sartori's children hope to one day find the person who struck their mother. The search for that driver, and the drivers in two other fatal hit-and-run accidents last year, were the subject of this week's Crime Stoppers Crime of the Week.

"She would want me to do whatever I could to find this person to make sure it didn't happen to someone else," Rafael Nigaglioni said. "She would say, 'As soon as you find out who it is, forgive them.' She would want the person who did this to be brought to justice somehow."