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Tearful town says goodbye to young crash victims

"We will see them again," a minister tells the hundreds mourning four children lost to a family.

LAKE BUTLER - With sobs, songs and photographs, the family of four of the seven children killed last week in a fiery crash were joined by about 700 mourners Monday in this tiny community shaken by the accident.

"These beautiful children have gone to their maker," said the Rev. Scott Fisher of Lake Butler Church of Christ. "Jesus has received the children. They are in heaven."

The funeral service was held before an overflow crowd at First Christian Church in Lake Butler. The sanctuary was full and about 200 people watched it on closed-circuit television in a nearby chapel. Others unable to get in stood in doorways.

A photo montage was projected on a screen showing the four children of Terry and Barbara Mann: Nicky, 15; Elizabeth, 15; Johnny, 13; and Heaven, 3. Four white caskets were placed in a semicircle at the front of the sanctuary, which was decorated by dozens of floral arrangements.

The Manns were in the process of adopting 21-month-old Anthony Lamb, who also died, along with the couple's nieces, Ashley Keen, 13, and Miranda Finn, 8.

"This is a tremendous outpouring of support for the family," said Alvin Griffis, a Union County School Board member.

"We will see them again. It's only a temporary separation," said the Rev. Harold Hudson of Fellowship Baptist Church in Raiford, which the children attended.

A children's choir from Fellowship Baptist sang, while recorded music included Steve Wariner's country hit, Holes in the Floor of Heaven .

Burial followed in Mount Zion Cemetery, north of Lake Butler.

Services were scheduled later in the week for the remaining children and for the grandfather of the seven, who died of a heart attack after learning they had been killed.

The accident occurred Wednesday when a school bus stopped to let out students. A car driven by Nicky Mann stopped behind it, but a semitrailer truck behind her failed to stop, struck the car and pushed it into the back of the bus, causing the car to burst into flames. The youngsters died in the fire.

Nicky had only a learner's permit and should not have been driving without a licensed adult along, investigators said, but that did not play a role in the crash. Investigators are still deciding whether to charge the truck driver.

Three students on the bus were seriously injured. Two remained in serious condition and one was in fair condition Monday at Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

[Last modified January 31, 2006, 00:30:20]