Family, Friends Remember Powell Brothers

(NewsCore) - The two young sons of missing Utah mother Susan Powell were memorialized Saturday, with mourners remembering the boys as curious, loving and deeply devoted to each other.

The hymn "Amazing Grace" played as friends, family and members of the public filed in to the Life Center Church in Tacoma, Wash., to pay their final respects to Charlie Powell, seven, and Braden Powell, five.

The boys were killed Feb. 5 in what authorities have called a murder-suicide arson. Their father, Josh Powell, allegedly doused his Graham, Wash., house with gas, attacked his sons with a hatchet and set off an explosion, killing both boys and himself. Josh Powell was a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of his wife, Susan Powell.

The boys' remains were placed in one coffin and adorned with colorful flowers. Photos of the brothers were displayed in a slideshow. An estimated 2,000 people turned out for the public funeral, and many mourners wore purple and blue ribbons in memory of the children.

Teachers of both boys remembered the siblings as bright, sweet and curious, with a special love of nature, puzzles and their maternal grandparents.

Grandfather Chuck Cox addressed the congregation and said he had "felt the support from all around the world" in the years since his daughter disappeared and during the ensuing dispute with Josh Powell over the boys' custody.

"We know that they're with their mother," Cox said of his grandsons.

Lead pastor Dean Curry said Braden and Charlie were innocent, "beautiful boys, works of art," who were the best of friends and always by each other's sides.

"These were two happy little boys caught in the middle of a family dispute, caught in the middle of evil," Curry said.

The boys will be laid to rest in a private ceremony Monday.