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Twin 8-year-olds and Camp Mystic's director are among those mourned after Texas floods

Twin 8-year-olds and Camp Mystic's director are among those mourned after Texas floods
I've lost two friends and they're gone. More than 100 people are dead after catastrophic floods in central Texas, but that number would be higher without heroic rescuers. One is *** father who died saving his daughter. Joel held on to him and prayed over his family. And did his very best to hang on as long as he could. The owner of this devastated RV park recalls banging on doors and helping residents through the water. She says her husband nearly died in the river. My husband keeps yelling at him, Throw your baby, throw your baby at me. And at that point, *** big wave came by and they both got swept away. Some survivors from camps along the river praised their counselors for thinking quickly. They moved the boys from their lower bunks to then the. bunk and then ultimately hoisted them up into the rafters. Camp Mystic is where more than 2 dozen children and counselors died. One Coast Guard swimmer says he gave up his spot in *** helicopter to fit more children on board. Now he's credited with helping save 165 children rescued from the camp. I've never seen anything this tragic in my life. I'm Amy Kiley reporting.
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Updated: 4:25 AM CDT Jul 8, 2025
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Twin 8-year-olds and Camp Mystic's director are among those mourned after Texas floods
AP logo
Updated: 4:25 AM CDT Jul 8, 2025
Editorial Standards
Two 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who had just completed 2nd grade. A beloved soccer coach and teacher. An Alabama elementary school student away from home. These are a few of the dozens of victims lost in devastating flash floods in central Texas.The flooding originated from the fast-moving waters of the Guadalupe River on Friday, killing more than 100 people. Authorities say search and rescue efforts are still underway, including for campers missing from a summer camp for girls.Hanna and Rebecca LawrenceHanna and Rebecca Lawrence were 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who were among the victims killed by the flooding at Camp Mystic.The girls had just finished second grade, their parents said.“Hanna and Rebecca brought so much joy to us, to their big sister Harper, and to so many others,” John and Lacy Lawrence said in a statement. “We will find ways to keep that joy, and to continue to spread it for them. But we are devastated that the bond we shared with them, and that they shared with each other, is now frozen in time. “David Lawrence, the girls’ grandfather and former publisher of the Miami Herald, said “it has been an unimaginable time for all of us." He said the girls gave their family, including their sister, joy.“They and that joy can never be forgotten,” he said in a statement.University Park Elementary School, where Hanna and Rebecca attended, said on its website that “numerous” students were in the Texas Hill Country during the flooding and had to evacuate. The school did not immediately respond to a message left Monday morning.“We are deeply saddened to report the loss of multiple students, and our thoughts and prayers are with all of the families deeply affected by this unimaginable tragedy,” the school said on its site.Reece and Paula ZunkerReece Zunker was described as “a passionate educator and a beloved soccer coach” by Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas.“His unwavering dedication to our students, athletes, and the Tivy community touched countless lives and will never be forgotten,” the school posted online Sunday.Paula Zunker was a former teacher at the school. “The care and impact she shared with her students continue to be felt, even years later,” the post said.The couple’s young children, Lyle and Holland, were still missing, the school said.The family had been staying at a river house in Hunt.Julian RyanJulian Ryan’s final words to his mother as floodwaters quickly engulfed their trailer home were simply, “I love you.”He had made a split-second decision to thrust his arm through a window to help his fiancée, two young kids and mom escape the catastrophic flood tearing through Kerr County, Texas, swallowing everything in its path. That last-ditch effort, an act of bravery, ultimately cost him his life. The glass had cut an artery in his arm.Ryan’s mother held him as he bled and took his last breath, his sister, Connie Salas, told CNN.“He went out a hero,” Salas said.It had been an exhausting shift for Ryan. The 27-year-old dishwasher had finished working at a local restaurant before returning to his Ingram, Texas, home, The New York Times reported.He was finally asleep when surging floodwaters crashed through their trailer home.In a matter of seconds, their front door gave way, slammed open by the power of the river. Ryan and his fiancée, with water rising to their chests, placed their 13-month-old and 6-year-old on the mattresses, which were floating, to keep them above the rising flood.But the water kept rising. The bedroom door, sealed tight by the pressure on the other side, wouldn’t budge.In those terrifying moments, Ryan shattered a window in a final attempt to get his family out. The glass tore into his arm, leaving him critically injured, his fiancée Christinia Wilson said.She added the glass almost cut his arm clean off.After multiple calls to 911 went unanswered, Ryan looked at them, she said, and told them, “‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to make it. I love y’all.’”His sister, who lived just steps away from him and also lost her home, told CNN there was no warning and no time to act. A flash flood emergency warning was issued for Kerr County at 4:03 a.m. about an hour before the raging Guadalupe River burst from its banks. The late-night warnings limited who could see them – and how quickly they could move to higher ground.“We had no time to physically save ourselves,” Salas said. “Our last words were, ‘I’m scared,’” she said. “And he says, ‘Me too.’”The family is overwhelmed with grief and struggling to cope, Salas says, especially their mother, who was there for Ryan’s final moments and saw him take his last breath.“While they were literally panicking and about to drown, my mother was still holding up her son and he looked at her and said, ‘I love you,’” Salas said. “So my mom has that heartbreak of looking at her son and telling him goodbye, holding him while he takes his last breath.”Salas says the family feels like they’re trapped in a nightmare they can’t wake up from; a reality where Ryan will never walk through the door again “and be that funny person he is.”Dick EastlandAmong the dead is Dick Eastland, the Camp Mystic director.Paige Sumner, a former camper, described him in a column in the local paper, The Kerrville Daily Times, as “the father figure to all of us while we were away from home.”Sumner spent one summer working in the camp office, balancing accounts for the commissary, where campers bought snacks and other essentials like stamps. She wrote that her desk was outside Eastland’s office.“He still put campers first in every situation,” wrote Sumner, who is now the head of philanthropy at a community center in Kerrville. “If an issue of any kind that needed attention came over the walkie-talkie, even a camper with a minor injury or the dreaded snake in the river, he would bolt out of the office and jump in a golf cart to get there as fast as he could.”Eastland’s grandson, George Eastland, wrote in an Instagram post that his grandfather showed him what a strong Christian man looks like.“If he wasn’t going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,” he wrote.In her column, Sumner noted that the camp had plans for rain.“Usually,” she explained, “it means they deliver a special breakfast of sweet rolls to each cabin or singing songs in the Rec Hall. This level of flooding was unprecedented.”In a brief telephone call as she grappled with the flood's aftermath at her own office, Sumner was reluctant to add more than she wrote in the column, saying the camp wanted privacy for the families.“We are still holding out hope,” she said. “They are broken; they are in shock.”Chloe ChildressChloe Childress was among the counselors at Camp Mystic who died in the devastating floods. Childress, 19, “lived a beautiful life that saturated those around her with contagious joy, unending grace, and abiding faith,” her family said in a statement.“Returning as a counselor to the place she loved so dearly, Chloe was looking forward to dedicating her summer days to loving and mentoring young girls at Camp Mystic,” her family said.Childress had just graduated from the Kinkaid School in Houston, which praised her as deeply invested in her community.“Chloe had a remarkable way of making people feel seen. She was wise beyond her years, with a steady compassion that settled a room,” Jonathan Eads, the head of the school, said in a letter to the school's community on Sunday. “Whether it was sharing her own challenges to ease someone’s burden or quietly cheering a teammate or classmate through a tough day, Chloe made space for others to feel safe, valued, and brave.”Janie HuntJanie Hunt, a relative of Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, was just 9 years old.Her mother, Anne Hunt, confirmed her death to CNN, while her grandmother Margaret Hunt confirmed it to The Kansas City Star.The Chiefs franchise declined to comment. But Clark Hunt’s wife, Tavia Hunt, posted on Instagram and urged people to rely on their faith.“If your heart is broken, I assure you God is near,” Tavia Hunt, wrote in the post. “He is gentle with your wounds. And He is still worthy — even when your soul is struggling to believe it.Tanya BurwickThe last time Tanya Burwick's family heard from her was a frantic phone call about the floodwaters as she headed to work at a Walmart early Friday in the San Angelo area. When Burwick didn't show up for work, her employer filed a missing persons report and sent a colleague to look for her.Police investigating the 62-year-old's disappearance found Burwick's unoccupied SUV fully submerged later that day. Her body was found the next morning blocks from the vehicle.“She lit up the room and had a laugh that made other people laugh,” said Lindsey Burwick, who added that her mom was a beloved parent, grandparent and colleague to many.She and her brother Zac said the day was especially difficult because it happened on July Fourth as they were working at a fireworks stand that's been in the family for generations. As word of Tanya Burwick's disappearance spread, people from Blackwell, a small community of about 250 people, showed up to the stand that's run out of a trailer painted orange.“People came to our aid,” Lindsey Burwick said.Police in San Angelo said more than 12,000 houses, barns and other buildings have been affected by the floods in the community of roughly 100,000 people.“We ask that the public continue to keep the Burwick family in their thoughts and prayers as they navigate this heartbreaking tragedy," the San Angelo Police Department said in a Facebook post.Jane RagsdaleJane Ragsdale, 68, devoted her life to the Heart O’the Hills Camp, a summer camp for girls in Texas Hill Country. She was a camper and counselor there herself in the 1970s before becoming a co-owner. By the 1980s, she was director of the camp in Hunt.“She was the heart of The Heart,” the camp said in a statement. “She was our guiding light, our example, and our safe place. She had the rare gift of making every person feel seen, loved, and important.”Since the camp was between sessions, no children were staying there when the floodwaters rose. The camp’s facilities, directly in the path of the flood, were extensively damaged and access to the site remained difficult, according to camp officials. The camp has been in existence since the 1950s.Camp officials said Ragsdale would be remembered for her strength and wisdom.“We are heartbroken. But above all, we are grateful,” the camp said. “Grateful to have known her, to have learned from her, and to carry her light forward.”In a 2015 oral history for the Kerr County Historical Commission, Ragsdale, whose first name was Cynthie, but went by her middle name Jane, talked about how her father was also a camp director and how much she enjoyed her experiences.“I loved every minute of camp from the first time I stepped foot in one,” she recalled.Videos of Ragsdale strumming a guitar and singing to campers during a recent session were posted in a memorial on the camp’s Facebook page: “Life is good today. So keep singing ’til we meet, again.”Sarah MarshEight-year-old Sarah Marsh from Alabama had been attending Camp Mystic in Texas, a longtime Christian girls camp in Hunt where several others were killed in the floods. As of Sunday, afternoon, 11 children were still missing.Marsh was a student at Cherokee Bend Elementary in suburban Birmingham.“This is an unimaginable loss for her family, her school, and our entire community,” Mountain Brook Mayor Stewart Welch said in a Facebook post. “Sarah’s passing is a sorrow shared by all of us, and our hearts are with those who knew and loved her.”He said the community — where about 20,000 people reside — would rally behind the Marsh family as they grieved.Her parents declined an interview request Sunday “as they mourn this unbearable loss,” the girl’s grandmother, Debbie Ford Marsh, told The Associated Press in an email.“We will always feel blessed to have had this beautiful spunky ray of light in our lives. She will live on in our hearts forever!” Marsh wrote on Facebook. “We love you so much, sweet Sarah!”She declined further comment.U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama also noted the girl’s tragic death.“We continue to pray for the victims’ loved ones, the survivors, those who are still missing, and our brave first responders as search and rescue efforts continue in Texas,” she said in a post on social media platform X.Blair and Brooke HarberSisters Blair and Brooke Harber, both students at St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas, had been staying alongside the Guadalupe River when their cabin was swept away, according to the school.Pastor Joshua J. Whitfield of St. Rita Catholic Community, which shares a campus with the school, said the girls' parents, Annie and RJ Harber, were staying in a different cabin and were safe. However, their grandparents were unaccounted for. Annie Harber has been a longtime teacher at the school.“This tragedy has touched every corner of our hearts,” the church said in a statement Sunday.Blair, who was enrolled in advanced classes, was involved in numerous school activities from volleyball and basketball to speech and drama. Brooke was a rising sixth grader and a student athlete in volleyball and lacrosse, among other sports. She also participated in speech and drama, according to the church.Both were remembered for their kind hearts and warm personalities.“We will honor Blair and Brooke’s lives, the light they shared, and the joy they brought to everyone who knew them,” Whitfield wrote in a Saturday letter to parishioners. “And we will surround Annie, RJ, and their extended family with the strength and support of our St. Rita community.”The church held a special prayer service Saturday afternoon and offered counseling.“Please keep the Harber family in your prayers during this time of profound grief,” Whitfield wrote. “May our faith, our love, and our St. Rita community be a source of strength and comfort in the days ahead.”CNN contributed to this report

Two 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who had just completed 2nd grade. A beloved soccer coach and teacher. An Alabama elementary school student away from home. These are a few of the dozens of victims lost in in central Texas.

The flooding originated from the of the Guadalupe River on Friday, killing more than 100 people. Authorities say search and rescue efforts are still underway, including for campers missing from a summer camp for girls.

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Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence

Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence were 8-year-old sisters from Dallas who were among the victims killed by the flooding at Camp Mystic.

The girls had just finished second grade, their parents said.

“Hanna and Rebecca brought so much joy to us, to their big sister Harper, and to so many others,” John and Lacy Lawrence said in a statement. “We will find ways to keep that joy, and to continue to spread it for them. But we are devastated that the bond we shared with them, and that they shared with each other, is now frozen in time. “

This undated photo provided by John Lawrence on Monday, July 7, 2025, shows twin sisters, Hanna Lawrence, left, and Rebecca Lawrence, right, who were two the victims killed by the flooding at Camp Mystic in central Texas on Friday, July 4.
John Lawrence via AP

David Lawrence, the girls’ grandfather and former publisher of the Miami Herald, said “it has been an unimaginable time for all of us." He said the girls gave their family, including their sister, joy.

“They and that joy can never be forgotten,” he said in a statement.

University Park Elementary School, where Hanna and Rebecca attended, said on its website that “numerous” students were in the Texas Hill Country during the flooding and had to evacuate. The school did not immediately respond to a message left Monday morning.

“We are deeply saddened to report the loss of multiple students, and our thoughts and prayers are with all of the families deeply affected by this unimaginable tragedy,” the school said on its site.

Reece and Paula Zunker

Reece Zunker was described as “a passionate educator and a beloved soccer coach” by Tivy High School in Kerrville, Texas.

“His unwavering dedication to our students, athletes, and the Tivy community touched countless lives and will never be forgotten,” the school posted online Sunday.

Paula Zunker was a former teacher at the school. “The care and impact she shared with her students continue to be felt, even years later,” the post said.

The couple’s young children, Lyle and Holland, were still missing, the school said.

The family had been staying at a river house in Hunt.

Julian Ryan

Julian Ryan’s final words to his mother as floodwaters quickly engulfed their trailer home were simply, “I love you.”

He had made a split-second decision to thrust his arm through a window to help his fiancée, two young kids and mom escape the catastrophic flood tearing through Kerr County, Texas, swallowing everything in its path.

That last-ditch effort, an act of bravery, ultimately cost him his life. The glass had cut an artery in his arm.

Ryan’s mother held him as he bled and took his last breath, his sister, Connie Salas, told CNN.

“He went out a hero,” Salas said.

It had been an exhausting shift for Ryan. The 27-year-old dishwasher had finished working at a local restaurant before returning to his Ingram, Texas, home, The New York Times reported.

He was finally asleep when surging floodwaters crashed through their trailer home.

In a matter of seconds, their front door gave way, slammed open by the power of the river. Ryan and his fiancée, with water rising to their chests, placed their 13-month-old and 6-year-old on the mattresses, which were floating, to keep them above the rising flood.

But the water kept rising. The bedroom door, sealed tight by the pressure on the other side, wouldn’t budge.

In those terrifying moments, Ryan shattered a window in a final attempt to get his family out. The glass tore into his arm, leaving him critically injured, his fiancée Christinia Wilson said.

She added the glass almost cut his arm clean off.

After multiple calls to 911 went unanswered, Ryan looked at them, she said, and told them, “‘I’m sorry, I’m not going to make it. I love y’all.’”

His sister, who lived just steps away from him and also lost her home, told CNN there was no warning and no time to act. A flash flood emergency warning was issued for Kerr County at 4:03 a.m. about an hour before the raging Guadalupe River burst from its banks. The late-night warnings limited who could see them – and how quickly they could move to higher ground.

“We had no time to physically save ourselves,” Salas said. “Our last words were, ‘I’m scared,’” she said. “And he says, ‘Me too.’”

The family is overwhelmed with grief and struggling to cope, Salas says, especially their mother, who was there for Ryan’s final moments and saw him take his last breath.

“While they were literally panicking and about to drown, my mother was still holding up her son and he looked at her and said, ‘I love you,’” Salas said. “So my mom has that heartbreak of looking at her son and telling him goodbye, holding him while he takes his last breath.”

Salas says the family feels like they’re trapped in a nightmare they can’t wake up from; a reality where Ryan will never walk through the door again “and be that funny person he is.”

Dick Eastland

Among the dead is Dick Eastland, the Camp Mystic director.

Paige Sumner, a former camper, described him in a in the local paper, The Kerrville Daily Times, as “the father figure to all of us while we were away from home.”

Sumner spent one summer working in the camp office, balancing accounts for the commissary, where campers bought snacks and other essentials like stamps. She wrote that her desk was outside Eastland’s office.

“He still put campers first in every situation,” wrote Sumner, who is now the head of philanthropy at a community center in Kerrville. “If an issue of any kind that needed attention came over the walkie-talkie, even a camper with a minor injury or the dreaded snake in the river, he would bolt out of the office and jump in a golf cart to get there as fast as he could.”

Eastland’s grandson, George Eastland, wrote in an Instagram that his grandfather showed him what a strong Christian man looks like.

“If he wasn’t going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,” he wrote.

In her column, Sumner noted that the camp had plans for rain.

“Usually,” she explained, “it means they deliver a special breakfast of sweet rolls to each cabin or singing songs in the Rec Hall. This level of flooding was unprecedented.”

In a brief telephone call as she grappled with the flood's aftermath at her own office, Sumner was reluctant to add more than she wrote in the column, saying the camp wanted privacy for the families.

“We are still holding out hope,” she said. “They are broken; they are in shock.”

Chloe Childress

Chloe Childress was among the counselors at Camp Mystic who died in the devastating floods. Childress, 19, “lived a beautiful life that saturated those around her with contagious joy, unending grace, and abiding faith,” her family said in a statement.

“Returning as a counselor to the place she loved so dearly, Chloe was looking forward to dedicating her summer days to loving and mentoring young girls at Camp Mystic,” her family said.

This photo provided by Debra Alexander Photography, shows Chloe Childress, 19, who was a counselor at Camp Mystic and among more than 100 people killed in devastating floods in Texas.
Debbie Psifidis/Debra Alexander Photography via AP

Childress had just graduated from the Kinkaid School in Houston, which praised her as deeply invested in her community.

“Chloe had a remarkable way of making people feel seen. She was wise beyond her years, with a steady compassion that settled a room,” Jonathan Eads, the head of the school, said in a letter to the school's community on Sunday. “Whether it was sharing her own challenges to ease someone’s burden or quietly cheering a teammate or classmate through a tough day, Chloe made space for others to feel safe, valued, and brave.”

Janie Hunt

Janie Hunt, a relative of Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, was just 9 years old.

Her mother, Anne Hunt, confirmed her death to , while her grandmother Margaret Hunt confirmed it to

The Chiefs franchise declined to comment. But Clark Hunt’s wife, Tavia Hunt, posted on and urged people to rely on their faith.

“If your heart is broken, I assure you God is near,” Tavia Hunt, wrote in the post. “He is gentle with your wounds. And He is still worthy — even when your soul is struggling to believe it.

Tanya Burwick

The last time Tanya Burwick's family heard from her was a frantic phone call about the floodwaters as she headed to work at a Walmart early Friday in the San Angelo area. When Burwick didn't show up for work, her employer filed a missing persons report and sent a colleague to look for her.

Police investigating the 62-year-old's disappearance found Burwick's unoccupied SUV fully submerged later that day. Her body was found the next morning blocks from the vehicle.

This undated photo released by Rhea Burwick shows her mother Tanya Burwick, April 2025, in San Angelo, Texas.
(Rhae Brunswick via AP)

“She lit up the room and had a laugh that made other people laugh,” said Lindsey Burwick, who added that her mom was a beloved parent, grandparent and colleague to many.

She and her brother Zac said the day was especially difficult because it happened on July Fourth as they were working at a fireworks stand that's been in the family for generations. As word of Tanya Burwick's disappearance spread, people from Blackwell, a small community of about 250 people, showed up to the stand that's run out of a trailer painted orange.

“People came to our aid,” Lindsey Burwick said.

Police in San Angelo said more than 12,000 houses, barns and other buildings have been affected by the floods in the community of roughly 100,000 people.

“We ask that the public continue to keep the Burwick family in their thoughts and prayers as they navigate this heartbreaking tragedy," the San Angelo Police Department said in a Facebook post.

Jane Ragsdale

Jane Ragsdale, 68, devoted her life to the Heart O’the Hills Camp, a summer camp for girls in Texas Hill Country. She was a camper and counselor there herself in the 1970s before becoming a co-owner. By the 1980s, she was director of the camp in Hunt.

“She was the heart of The Heart,” the camp said in a statement. “She was our guiding light, our example, and our safe place. She had the rare gift of making every person feel seen, loved, and important.”

Since the camp was between sessions, no children were staying there when the floodwaters rose. The camp’s facilities, directly in the path of the flood, were extensively damaged and access to the site remained difficult, according to camp officials. The camp has been in existence since the 1950s.

Camp officials said Ragsdale would be remembered for her strength and wisdom.

“We are heartbroken. But above all, we are grateful,” the camp said. “Grateful to have known her, to have learned from her, and to carry her light forward.”

In a 2015 oral history for the Kerr County Historical Commission, Ragsdale, whose first name was Cynthie, but went by her middle name Jane, talked about how her father was also a camp director and how much she enjoyed her experiences.

“I loved every minute of camp from the first time I stepped foot in one,” she recalled.

Videos of Ragsdale strumming a guitar and singing to campers during a recent session were posted in a memorial on the camp’s Facebook page: “Life is good today. So keep singing ’til we meet, again.”

Sarah Marsh

Eight-year-old Sarah Marsh from Alabama had been attending , a longtime Christian girls camp in Hunt where several others were killed in the floods. As of Sunday, afternoon, 11 children were still missing.

Marsh was a student at Cherokee Bend Elementary in suburban Birmingham.

“This is an unimaginable loss for her family, her school, and our entire community,” Mountain Brook Mayor Stewart Welch said in a Facebook post. “Sarah’s passing is a sorrow shared by all of us, and our hearts are with those who knew and loved her.”

He said the community — where about 20,000 people reside — would rally behind the Marsh family as they grieved.

Her parents declined an interview request Sunday “as they mourn this unbearable loss,” the girl’s grandmother, Debbie Ford Marsh, told The Associated Press in an email.

“We will always feel blessed to have had this beautiful spunky ray of light in our lives. She will live on in our hearts forever!” Marsh wrote on Facebook. “We love you so much, sweet Sarah!”

She declined further comment.

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama also noted the girl’s tragic death.

“We continue to pray for the victims’ loved ones, the survivors, those who are still missing, and our brave first responders as search and rescue efforts continue in Texas,” she said in a post on social media platform X.

Blair and Brooke Harber

Sisters Blair and Brooke Harber, both students at St. Rita Catholic School in Dallas, had been staying alongside the Guadalupe River when their cabin was swept away, according to the school.

Pastor Joshua J. Whitfield of St. Rita Catholic Community, which shares a campus with the school, said the girls' parents, Annie and RJ Harber, were staying in a different cabin and were safe. However, their grandparents were unaccounted for. Annie Harber has been a longtime teacher at the school.

“This tragedy has touched every corner of our hearts,” the church said in a statement Sunday.

Blair, who was enrolled in advanced classes, was involved in numerous school activities from volleyball and basketball to speech and drama. Brooke was a rising sixth grader and a student athlete in volleyball and lacrosse, among other sports. She also participated in speech and drama, according to the church.

Both were remembered for their kind hearts and warm personalities.

“We will honor Blair and Brooke’s lives, the light they shared, and the joy they brought to everyone who knew them,” Whitfield wrote in a Saturday letter to parishioners. “And we will surround Annie, RJ, and their extended family with the strength and support of our St. Rita community.”

The church held a special prayer service Saturday afternoon and offered counseling.

“Please keep the Harber family in your prayers during this time of profound grief,” Whitfield wrote. “May our faith, our love, and our St. Rita community be a source of strength and comfort in the days ahead.”

CNN contributed to this report