Days after one of the worst car accidents in Maine history killed four young men and an engaged couple, friends and family began their series of goodbyes.

A funeral service took place on Thursday for Robert Bruce, 19, one of four men killed when their car crossed the center line on Route 122 in Poland on Sunday. Hundreds packed the Bates College Chapel, filling the pews, standing in the aisle and waiting outside to honor the bright, athletic kid who charmed everyone.

“He could walk through a crowd, and by the time he got to the other end he had a room full of friends,” said Auburn Mayor John Jenkins, a longtime family friend who watched Bruce grow up.

More than a half-dozen people, including Jenkins, spoke at the service. They praised Bruce, a Lewiston High School graduate and freshman at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, as a gifted athlete and student with a future in broadcasting. They remembered him as a personable, charismatic guy who was loved.

As they grieved for their loss, they celebrated a life well-lived.

“It’s not the length of the life, it’s the quality of the life that matters,” said Jenkins in an interview Thursday afternoon.

Friends and family have struggled since Sunday to deal with the death of Bruce, his friends and the Poland couple. At Lewiston High School, where all four young men attended, students, alumni, staff and parents have wandered in and out, turning to each other in their grief.

“There is just a state of shock for so many kids and adults alike,” said counselor Vicky Wiegman. “It’s a lot for people to wrap their heads around.”

Bruce’s funeral was the first of several scheduled through Saturday. A joint service will be held today for Laura Caron, 25, and Steven Walton, 27, the engaged couple. Services will be held today for Matthew Manley, 18, and Saturday for Jacob Roy, 20. The date and time of the fifth funeral, which honors Michael Cournoyer, 20, has not been publicly announced.

Susan Lauze, Cournoyer’s mother, said Thursday she was numb from the loss of her eldest son. She called him her angel.

“He was a good boy,” she said. “He was in the wrong place.”

Police say the accident that killed the six occurred Sunday when a Nissan Altima driven by Cournoyer skidded on black ice, spun out of control and crashed into an oncoming Dodge Spirit. Walton was driving the Dodge.

Four people died on impact. A fifth died at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston an hour after the collision, police said. The sixth died hours later at the hospital.

Police have declined to say whether speed or alcohol was a factor in the crash, but the Sheriff’s Department is conducting a criminal investigation.

Cournoyer and his friends were at a party just before the crash. Many bloggers have referred to drinking at the party. One teenage partygoer – who spoke to the Sun Journal on the condition of anonymity – said about 20 local high school graduates had gathered to celebrate vacation from college. She saw alcohol there. Though “Most people were just hanging out,” she believes the four young men in the Nissan Altima may have been among the drinkers.

Still, she blamed the crash on icy roads.

“I just know those guys. I know drinking had nothing to do with it,” she said.

The roads were slippery that night, she said. The cold, wet weather was such a concern that “We went 25 (mph) the whole way.” She believes Cournoyer and his friends were headed to a friend’s house after the party “so they wouldn’t have to worry about the roads.”