BARRE, Vt. (AP) – Three children who died together were memorialized together and then buried together.

About 1,000 people gathered Wednesday at the Barre Auditorium to remember brothers Justin Nutbrown, 13, and Joshua Nutbrown, 11, and their friend Allison Hanson, also 11. The three drowned last week.

“Allison, Josh and Justin did not die because they were too good for their world, neither did they die because they or somebody else did something wrong,” said the Rev. Gina Hilton-VanOsdall of the Barre Presbyterian Church. “Even more, Allison, Josh and Justin did not die because God wanted them to die.

“God was the first one to cry when Allison, Josh and Justin fell into the water. When the river swallowed them, God’s heart was the first of all of our hearts to break,” she said.

The children were reported missing last Wednesday when they didn’t return home after playing army in the woods behind their home. After an all-night search their bodies were found in the Jail Branch, a narrow but swift moving and cold river at the base of the hill.

Police and firefighters who searched for the children were in the auditorium for the funeral as were scores of friends, let out of school for the day, who had grieved after learning of the deaths.

The sobs of the boys’ mother, Penny Wade, echoed through the auditorium as she and other family members were led to their seats. At one point during the service a young girl walked up and gave Allison’s mother, Patricia Hanson, a tissue.

Three white caskets lined the front of the auditorium; a framed picture of the child within topped each casket. Red balloons and teddy bears were on the floor in front of each casket along with bouquets of flowers.

The Spaulding High School choir sang. Some people cried quietly and held on to their children or their friends.

Allison was a fifth grader at Barre Elementary School. She was living with the boys and Wade.

“Whether Allison was with her family at a friend’s house or in an apartment or a hotel or in a tent she loved life,” her aunt, Fran Linden, said during the service. “She was brave and she would see the best in all people.”

Joshua was in fourth grade and Justin seventh.

“You loved to tell jokes, pull pranks. You could always be counted on to bring a smile when you were down,” Jackie Hatch said of Joshua. “You loved cars and Play Station and being with others, his friends. He loved playing outside, exploring and discovering the world around him.”

Justin was an honor roll student with a perfect attendance record.

“He was very protective of his brother and his mother and he took very seriously his role as the man of the house. He had dream of becoming a Marine so he could protect everybody,” Hatch said.

“Joshua, Justin and Penny formed a very tight family unit,” she said. “They rode out the bad times and they enjoyed the good times and all the while they lived out the code assigned to the Three Musketeers, All for one and one for all.”‘