The Simpsons Pay Tribute to the Late Mrs. Krabappel and Now I'm Crying

Last night on The Simpsons, the show used its weekly chalkboard gag to pay tribute to Marcia Wallace, the voice artist behind Springfield Elementary’s fourth grade teacher (and crank with a heart of gold) Edna Krabappel.

To honor the actress (who passed away from complications stemming from pneumonia in late October), Simpsons showrunners had originally planned to re-air “Bart the Lover,” the Krabappel centric episode from 1992, which — as Rebecca “Burt” Ray already pointed out over the weekend — is one of the best episodes (of any TV show) ever.

They were unable to proceed with their original plans for technical reasons, so instead had Bart (who arguably knew Mrs. Krabappel best) celebrate her in the opening credits — only instead of writing lines like he usually would (probably because Edna made him), Bart only wrote out one sentence:

“WE’LL REALLY MISS YOU MRS. K.”

For those of us who grew up watching The Simpsons and who felt closer to Mrs. Krabappel than we did any of our actual teachers, this statement is truer than ever. We really will miss you, Mrs. K.