- August 1st, 2012, 4:22 pm
#397814
Praying for their parents and extended family. Horrific!
NJ.com wrote:Siblings, grandmother lost in Paterson fire are mournedClick Here for Full Story
Published: Wednesday, August 01, 2012, 7:20 AM Updated: Wednesday, August 01, 2012, 7:20 AM
By The Associated Press
Alexandra Velarde
PATERSON — Whispers of disbelief in two languages punctuated the aura of silence at a Paterson church Tuesday as mourners, seemingly too shocked to cry, filed past photo collages of two siblings, each pose a variation of a beaming brother with a protective arm around his smiling sister.
"I've never been at a funeral with three caskets," said Jay Harvey, pastor of the Madison Avenue Baptist Church.
The church was the site of a wake for three members of a New Jersey family — two church-going, college student siblings and the grandmother they helped care for.
Siblings 23-year-old Alexandra Velarde and 19-year-old Christian Velasquez were injured in a fire in the family's Paterson home last week that claimed the life of their 75-year-old grandmother, Maria Velarde. The grandmother died in the fire, authorities said, and the siblings were removed from life support after doctors harvested their organs on Thursday night, as the pair had indicated that they wished if anything ever happened to them.
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