BARRE, Vt. (AP) – The three children who drowned in a stream will be remembered together at a joint funeral on Wednesday.

The bodies of Justin and Joshua Nutbrown and Allison Hansen were recovered in the Jail Branch River early Thursday morning after the three went missing the previous afternoon. The trio had become fast friends since their families met at a local motel in early March.

“We were all staying at the same motel, in rooms right across from each other,” said Allison’s mother, Patty Hansen. “That’s when we all met, and the kids were constantly together.”

By day, Hansen said, Justin, Josh and Allison roamed outside, exploring the Barre woods and playing games. By night, they would pull the portable DVD player into the hotel hallway and watch movies in their blankets.

Hansen said the children’s tumultuous lives helped forge the sibling-like bond.

“I think they talked a lot about the bad things that happened in their lives,” Hansen said. “They felt very comfortable and confident to talk about anything that happened to them, because they made each other feel secure enough and safe enough that they could say whatever they wanted.”

The mothers believe that their children are together now and want to celebrate that bond by combining their funerals and burying the three coffins in adjacent plots at the Middlesex cemetery.

For Pat Nutbrown, uncle to Justin and Josh, burying all three children in the Nutbrown family plot at Middlesex Center Cemetery helps bring closure.

“They died together, and they should rest together,” Nutbrown said.

The funeral service begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Barre Auditorium.