Gilkes died instantly, the second victim of an alleged madman who police also accused of murdering his girlfriend's teenaged stepson before he opened fire on the crowded bus.
"I was getting ready for work and he grabbed me and he said, I love you, I'm so in love with you," widow Alicia Gilkes said.
They are words Alicia Gilkes replays in her mind.
One of the last conversations she had with her husband Marvin.
"They say the good die young. So my husband, he was a good man," Gilkes said.
They married in Tobago on July 3, 2010.
Alicia and Marvin met when they were just 7.
They were neighbors in Trinidad.
Marvin would later become a detective on his home island, but quit his job and moved to New York to join his one and only love.
On Friday, Marvin decided to go visit his mother before heading to nursing school.
He jumped on the Q111 bus, never knowing he would cross paths with accused gunman Damel Burton.
Alicia spoke with Marvin right before he got on the bus, reminding him it was pizza night.
"He was like, 'But remember I've got school.' And I said, don't worry we'll leave you some. I'll see you when you get home," Gilkes remembered.
Prosecutors say 36-year-old Marvin Gilkes was shot in the back of the head and died at the scene.
A 29-year-old was struck in the face but survived and is in stable condition.
Queens district attorney's office says that before boarding the bus, Burton first shot at an 18-year-old inside a nearby apartment.
The teen jumped out of a rear window but later died from his injuries.
"I haven't eaten one meal. I'm weak, distraught, he was my everything. My soulmate, it's just been really hard. I never thought I'd be going through this after one year of marriage. I thought we would be growing old together. [It's] very hard," Gilkes said.
Marvin's funeral will be held Wednesday. His family will bring his body back to Trinidad for burial.
Damel Burton, 34, has been charged with murder and attempted murder.
