The woman who voiced her may have passed away in 2013, but Mrs Krabappel never got to say a proper goodbye to Springfield…until Sunday night.

When Marcia Wallace, the voice actor who gave life to Bart’s sarcastic (yet empathetic) teacher, died eight years ago, the producers of The Simpsons were caught off-guard.

They decided that Edna Krabappel, who was also Ned Flanders’ second wife, would also pass away. But executive producer Al Jean told Variety that it always bugged him that Wallace and Mrs. Krabappel didn’t get a proper send-off.

On Sunday’s 696th installment of The Simpsons titled “Diary Queen,” Bart discovers Mrs. Krabappel’s diary and discovers how much she really believed in him, and it gives him inspiration. The episode features Wallace’s voice, taken from previous episodes.

According to executive producer Al Jean, he used two lines from Wallace, previously used on the show, to fit it into the storyline. “The Simpsons” cleared the use with Wallace’s estate, which was compensated for her appearance. Wallace is credited with the guest appearance on the episode as well.

“Sadly, it was very surprising passing,” Jean said of Wallace’s death. “I didn’t know she was that ill until very close to when it happened. So we never got the chance to give sort of a proper goodbye to her in the show, and this is a small attempt to do that. And, you know, she was so beloved by everybody that worked on The Simpsons, that we just sort of wanted to give her one last moment on the show in her memory. It’s just that, it’s nothing more, but, we thought she was the best.”

The Simpsons has referenced Mrs. Krabappel’s death, but Jean said it was decided that the cause of the character’s death would not be revealed.

“I don’t think that people these days want to necessarily know how a character passed away,” he said. He continued that in Sunday’s episode, “we reveal a little bit more about [Mrs. Krabappel] and then a little bit more about her life and how the character was feeling when she passed.”

Wallace, who died at age 70, won an Emmy for Outstanding Voiceover Performance for The Simpsons in 1992. She was already known for her role as receptionist Carol Kester on The Bob Newhart Show and was later a regular on game shows, as well as a guest star on shows such as The Brady Bunch, Murphy Brown, and Taxi.

Wallace’s final Simpsons episode, “The Man Who Grew Too Much,” aired in March 2014. Mrs. Krabappel’s death made Flanders a widower for a second time, following the death of his first wife, Maude.

In repurposing Wallace’s two lines on Sunday’s episode, Jean said he felt they were appropriate for this storyline, even if fans recognize them from older episodes.

“This will be her last appearance,” he said. “We just wanted to sort of send the character off properly, in a way that I think isn’t trying to be exploitive.”