Illinois ? As NASA astronaut Daniel Tani orbited Earth, hundreds of mourners filled a suburban Chicago church Sunday to remember his 90-year-old mother as someone who endured hardship to raise five children and worked until age 70.

Rose Tani died Dec. 19 when her car was struck by a train. Daniel Tani, 46, who is aboard the international space station, could not travel back for the service at his mother’s church, First Church of Lombard, and sent a video message.

Daniel Tani “has lost the person who has been his inspiration for most of his life,” said the Rev. Rob Hatfield, according to a WLS-TV report posted on its Web site.

Rose Tani was remembered as a woman who braved a U.S. World War II internment camp, raised her children after her husband’s death and worked in a school cafeteria until she was 70.

Police said Rose Tani stopped behind a school bus at a railroad crossing and then drove around the vehicle, bypassing the lowered crossing gate. A train struck the passenger side of her vehicle and pushed it down the tracks before stopping.