Hundreds Pack Memorial Service For 6 Killed In Md. Mansion

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- Hundreds of people packed an Annapolis church to mourn six family members killed in a massive fire at a waterfront mansion nearly a month ago.

Family, friends and church leaders spent more than an hour and a half Thursday remembering Don and Sandy Pyle and four of their grandchildren. They were killed Jan. 19 after an electrical fire engulfed a 15-foot Christmas tree in the Pyles' waterfront mansion near Annapolis and reduced the 16,000-square-foot home to rubble.

The children were two sets of siblings between the ages of 6 and 8.

Sean Grogg, a nephew of Don and Sandy Pyle, spoke of their kindness and how devoted they were to their grandchildren, spoiling them with Disney cruises and trips to New York.

He called their deaths "unfathomable," according to The Baltimore Sun.

Sitting in the front row during the service at St. John Neumann Church were brothers Clint and Randy Boone. They each lost two children, and their mother and stepfather in the blaze. Pictures of Don and Sandy Pyle were placed on one side of the altar, photos of the children on the other.

The children who died were 8-year-old Charlotte Boone; her brother, 6-year-old Wes Boone; and their cousins, 8-year-old Lexi Boone and her sister, 7-year-old Katie Boone.

"Death is sad at any age," Deacon Leroy Moore told attendees of the memorial service, according to The Washington Post. "It is most difficult for us to associate children with the coffin."

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