They gripped each other for support at the graveside, a family crippled by grief, at this the end of their longest and most difficult of weeks.
As she was lowered into her grave, Ciara Dunne's family each placed a white rose on her coffin and that of her two children, Léan (5) and Shania (3), to signify their innocence and youth.
It was a final goodbye which was too much for her sister, Leanne. She broke down, her eyes tortured and imploring, while her sobs echoed across the cemetery, amplified by the microphone at the graveside.
Youth and innocence. It was a recurring theme throughout the day as hundreds of mourners gathered in Burt, Co Donegal, to remember a naive and childlike woman who had been found dead along with her husband and children in the most disturbing of circumstances five days earlier.
They packed in their hundreds into St Aengus's church on Saturday afternoon, overlooking Lough Swilly and the Inishowen Peninsula, in the community's first chance to express its solidarity in grief with the family.
Fr Michael Porter, who had the difficult task of trying to find words to comfort a shocked family and community, stopped for a moment, paused and spoke.
"Looking at the three coffins in front of me," he said, "it is hard to imagine that it is an adult and two children who are being buried here today and not three children.
"There was such a childlike innocence about Ciara, who had developed the body of a woman but who always had the spirit of a child. And maybe that's why Ciara related so well to children all her life. And looked after them exceptionally well. In many ways, Ciara was like a beautiful child herself." Many mourners spoke of Ciara baby-sitting in the area when she was younger and, later, pushing her pram proudly around the neighbourhood after she had her first child.
For most, the true impact of the tragedy only hit as the three coffins arrived at the church. Some whispered in shocked tones as the tiny white coffins of Léan and Shania were brought towards the church.
Ciara and Léan's remains were carried by family members including her father PJ O'Brien, and brothers Dara and Paul. The women of the family, including Ciara's mother, Marion, carried three-year-old Shania's remains. Her great-grandmother, Peggy O'Brien, followed, with the assistance of family members.
Schoolchildren stood silently outside the church, where they formed a guard of honour, while many mourners were dressed in the blue and yellow of Burt GAA club, where Ciara's father PJ coached the hurling team.
There was a tragic symmetry, too, for Ciara's uncle PJ McDermott and his fiancee, Natasha Ní Gairbheith.
The couple were due to get married in Donegal on this same Saturday afternoon and have their reception in a hotel in Burt. Instead, the couple helped to carry the coffins of Léan and Shania to their final resting place.
Fr Porter, meanwhile, looked to scripture in an attempt to help the family come to terms with their loss. He said it was natural that people would be angered and saddened, asking God, "why?"
"The Psalms are full of cries like that," Fr Porter said. "God doesn't send these crosses. They come to us as they did to his own Son. God doesn't explain why and, even if he did, we would not understand."
"The only explanation will come at the end of time, when the graves yield up their dead and there will be no more suffering. And God will wipe away all our tears."