At Saturday’s memorial service for Charlie and Braden Powell, the tears started when the children in the Life Christian school choir filed onstage and launched into a sweet, innocent version of “Amazing Grace.”
More than 1,400 people attended the service at Tacoma’s Life Center Church, but inside the church's circular sanctuary, with its thick carpets, dim lights and plush seats, the hour-long service seemed almost intimate.
“This moment is about two beautiful boys,” said Dean Curry, the church’s lead pastor. “How we got here is well known,” Curry said. “It’s not about the grown-ups today. It’s about the little ones.”
In a brief, emotional address, the boys’ maternal grandfather, Charles Cox, put the nation’s seemingly insatiable hunger for details about his family’s slowly unfolding tragedy in a positive light, offering “sincere gratitude” for everyone’s concern.
“We felt the support of so many people around the world, of all faiths,” said Cox, his wife Judith beside him at the podium. “It helps us to know there are good people in the world, who will fight against evil.”
The boys’ father, Josh Powell, was in the middle of a custody battle with the Coxes when he torched his rental home in Graham on Feb. 5, killing himself and the two boys. He also had been named a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife, Susan Cox Powell, two years ago in Utah.
Several relatives from the Cox family, as well as Kirk and Jennifer Graves, Josh Powell’s sister, sat in front rows of the church.
All members of the Cox party wore buttons with Charlie and Braden’s photos and the words, “In the hands of God.” They also wore blue and purple ribbons to remember them and their mother.
About two dozen members of the Powell family, including Josh’s other sister Alina and his mother, sat in a balcony.
Josh Powell was not mentioned.
During the service, two teachers shared their memories and read letters from other instructors who had interacted with the boys.
Charlie, 7, was remembered as a kid fascinated with science and insects, often trying to sneak worms or caterpillars into the classroom. He was about to get glasses and loved to write, dreaming up plans to market his books.
“At an early age, Charlie displayed a keen intellect and compassionate heart,” said Tammy Oughton, Charlie’s kindergarten teacher. “He was an amazing young man.”
“He is safe in his mother’s arms.”
His younger brother, Braden, 5, preferred cars and trains, teachers remembered, and last Halloween got to dress up as a Transformer. Braden, teachers said, loved to be tickled.
“Braden walked through the doors every day with a big smile on his face,” said Kristie King, an instructor at a YMCA where Braden was enrolled in a pre-kindergarten program.
The boy “had a heart of gold, always wanting to show affection,” King said. “Braden liked to hold his teacher’s hand and not let go.”
Now, King said, “His little spirit lives on in the hearts of all who knew him.”
At the front of the church’s sanctuary, the boys’ bodies lay together in a single casket, an unusual arrangement that church officials said was due to the Cox family’s wishes that the brothers stay together. Throughout the service, speakers expressed the belief that the boys would be reunited with their mother.
The casket was topped with a large flower arrangement that included daisies, roses and sunflowers. Three screens in the sanctuary showed a photo of Susan Powell and the two boys, all smiling.
“We are grateful for the opportunity that we’ve each had to have felt the joy that these two small children have brought into our lives in their short lives,” family member Kirk Graves said in the service’s closing prayer.
Amanda Morse of Seattle was standing outside the church, holding her 5-month son, Ronan. She said she wanted the family to know they weren’t alone.
“It was a tragedy that shouldn’t have happened,” she said.
Dolores Lopez, 59, of Tacoma, wiped tears from her eyes as she left the church.
“I hope they find peace,” she said of Charlie and Braden’s family. “I hope they know God has taken both the boys to their mother. I hope people in the community will cherish their own grand kids. You never think of a child so young taken so fast.”
A private family interment will take place Monday at Woodbine Cemetery in Puyallup
Staff writer Sara Schilling, The Associated Press and The Deseret News contributed to this report.
Rob Carson: 253-597-8693
rob.carson@thenewstribune.com
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