Family remembers Arizona mom killed by train after morning jog as loving, selfless woman

Family and friends are mourning the loss of a mother of seven hit and killed by a train. It happened last week in Eloy. And Jacob Luthi joins us live with how she's being remembered tonight. Jacob. Yeah, Brian. Thelma Candelaria's family says she was out for her routine morning run in Eloy when she was struck and killed by a train. They tell me she was singing and dancing, posting on social media just minutes before her life was cut short. This is 47-year-old Thelma Candelaria. Her family says this video captures her just minutes before her morning run ended in tragedy, struck and killed by a train Thursday in Eloy. Singing and just thanking God and she just, she posted a video being her. Day nine. Thelma was on a nine-day running streak, spreading positivity online. She's lively, she's dancing, she's singing. Eloy police say a Union Pacific train hit her near Sunshine Boulevard and Frontier Street. The engineer sounded the horn and hit the emergency brakes, but it was too late. Her daughter, Elisha, says surveillance video shows her mom wearing noise-canceling headphones, waiting for one train to pass. Apparently unaware, another was coming from the opposite direction. She didn't do it on purpose. She has her noise-canceling headphones on, so she couldn't hear anything. And that's when the train that was going the opposite way, unfortunately, struck her and took her life. Best friend and neighbor, Amber Sherbin, says Thelma made everyone feel like family and showed up for others in their toughest moments. She just accepted me into her life. I had nothing. I moved here from Colorado with only what I could fit in my car, and I literally had nothing, and Thelma welcomed me like I had the world. Just days before her death, Thelma can be seen here getting baptized. She leaves behind seven children. Now, Elisha says it's up to her and her siblings to lean on each other. I'm going to continue to be there for my siblings. I'm going to make sure I take care of all of them, help them get on their feet. The family hopes to honor Thelma's legacy by living with the same selfless love she showed everyone around her. She was just there to love, and I've always believed that I have a very giving heart, but Thelma's heart far supersedes mine by far, by far. So I just hope that I can be a quarter of the person that she was. She was just free and amazing and she really resilient and just an angel, honestly, really, truly an angel. Now, Thelma is also survived by her three grandchildren. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with groceries, household bills, and other everyday expenses as they navigate this loss. You can find information on how you can help on our website at fox10phoenix.com. Jacob Luthi, Fox 10 News. All right, heartbreaking. Thank you, Jacob.