JACKSONVILLE, AR - Saturday, friends and family remembered a Jacksonville
mother and four children killed in a house fire last week.
Marilyn Beavers, her son and three daughters
died from smoke and soot inhalation in their duplex March 22.
Hundreds packed Saint Luke Missionary Baptist Church in North Little Rock to remember the family Saturday morning. Beavers died in the fire along with her son, Dequan Singleton, 10, Sydni Singleton, 9, Haylee Beavers, 6, and the youngest, four-year-old Emily Beavers.
The congregation tried to hold back tears as it watched a tribute to the Beavers and Singletons. Only four caskets entered the church so the youngest, Emily, could be laid to rest with her mother.
On his way to the cemetery, the father of the four children, Furlandare Singleton, had a message for all of those keeping his family in their prayers.
"I just want people to know, you know what I'm saying, that I tried. You know what I'm saying? That I tried to raise a great family for the community to love. Obviously we see that by everyone that came out and supported us. Like I said before. I had wonderful children. I loved them dearly, but, they're in a better place now," said Singleton.
A lot of support since the deadly fire has come from Dupree Elementary, where the
three oldest children went to school.
"We all have fun memories of the students. Always like to say that Sydni was a little sassy. And, Haylee was a little feisty. And, Dequan had a little smile that would lighten up any room, and they were all sweet and adorable children," recalled Dupree Elementary Principal
Janice Walker.
A horse drawn carriage carried Marilyn and Emily's casket to the family's final resting place. It was donated by a man who was moved by the family's story.
"This could happen to anybody. And, you know, probably shouldn't have happened, and we really feel for the family," said Kevin Blazer.
"I know one day, Lord knows like the sermon said. I don't know when that's going to happen. I don't know where that's going to happen, but one days I will be up there with my children. I will see them again," said the children's father.
The Pulaski County coroner ruled the deaths accidental, but there is a police and fire investigation going on right now in Jacksonville to make sure the hard-wired smoke detectors in the public housing duplex were working.
You can help the family with donations by giving to the "Singleton Family Foundation" at any Regions Bank.
