Funeral held for 5 siblings who died in fire

EDNA, Texas — The scoreboard was dark at Edna High School's Cowboy Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon as thousands of people crowded the stands to say goodbye to five young siblings killed in a house fire last week.

"It's just a hard feeling to imagine that something like this tragedy would happen. It's a hard thing to go through," said attendee Rhonda Ayers.

But the Edna community is going through it together. Donations paid for the funeral. The caskets were even specially painted for each child for free.

"If it wouldn't have been for the people in the community, we would have never made it," said one of the family's cousins, Pete Ramos.

That support has kept the family going, through an unthinkable loss.

"It's heartbreaking. I don't even have words to express it," said Jessica Casas.

Standing before the five small caskets, family members said their arms are empty without the children to hug, but their hearts are full, remembering 5-year-old Lilliana and 6-year-old Ariana as two beautiful little princesses.

Nine-year-old Nicholas was a video game champ.

"I'll play you in Heaven," his uncle said in a eulogy before the crowd.

Thirteen-year-old Julian's friend, Cayden Tipton, remembered him as "my best friend. Me and him got in trouble with each other, we had laughs and stuff, it was just hard letting him go."

Fifteen-year-old Noah played on the Edna High School football team and was planning ahead for college.

"He was a great guy. He was a good friend and we always picked on each other in the locker room and stuff, he was just fun to be around," said Noah's friend and teammate Xavier Palacios.

Witnesses said Noah died trying to get his sisters out of the mobile home. The family's youngest son, a 4-year-old, survived with his parents, who reportedly climbed out a window. The mother was injured. It's still unclear what started the fire.

But on Saturday loved ones focused on letting go and remembering to look up when they're missing those five faces.

"Everything's going to be OK, because they're in heaven and we all know that," said Ayers.

If you'd like to assist the family, you can donate to their GoFundMe page.