The fiance of MH17 victim German school teacher Gabriele Lauschet took a deep breath after a service in her memory and whispered “she was a rock”.

Andreas Schaaf said he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with the dedicated teacher and found it hard to talk about life without her. “To me she was a rock, the love of my life, the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with,” Mr Schaaf said.

“It’s really nice to see what other people said about her. I’m her partner so I’m biased but it was confirmation how wonderful and beautiful she was. She always put everyone else before her, was always there for everyone,” he said.

Mr Schaaf spoke about the love of his life after a service was held for her at the German International School in Terrey Hills.

Her twin sister, Monika Burmester, and Ms Lauschet's son, Tim, joined Mr Schaaf and hundreds of students and colleagues to remember the caring teacher on Friday afternoon.

Mounds of flowers were piled on the gates and flags were flown at half mast at the school she had taught at since 2000.

Mr Schaaf said he found comfort in hearing so many people talk about Ms Lauschet and didn’t realise it was possible to learn more beautiful things about her.

“My colleagues here did a wonderful job and I’m grateful for what they said, it was really nice way of remembering her, describing her and having us here throughout our period of grief,” he said.

“The service at the school summed it up. It was just wonderful to see all the students and how they spoke about her. She was always friendly, full of love, always had a smile.”

Originally from the German town of Aachen, Ms Lauschet had been in her native country visiting her mother while on holidays before planning to return to Sydney before Monday's start of the school term.