Memorial honors three Harriman siblings killed by their mother
Family and friends of the three children shot and killed by their mother two weeks ago in Burlington County gathered Saturday at a memorial service to remember the siblings.
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Family and friends of the three children shot and killed by their mother two weeks ago in Burlington County gathered Saturday at a memorial service to remember the siblings.
Numerous visitors came to the Holy Eucharist Catholic Church in Tabernacle, a rural community of 7,000 where the Harriman children - Nicholas, 14, Alexander, 11, and Nadia, 8 - grew up. School photos of the smiling children were displayed with cremation urns and bouquets of white flowers.
Beside them were their maternal grandmother, Maureen LePage, and aunt, Jill LePage. Friends and residents whose children attended school with the Harrimans stood in line before sharing words, one by one, and embracing the family.
"This is closure for them," Joe DeLuca, a deacon at the Tabernacle church said of the relatives. "And they need it."
A funeral Mass was planned after the memorial.
Among those expressing condolences was Brittany Goldy, 15, who attends Seneca High School, where Nicholas was a freshman.
She told the family she was sorry for their loss and embraced them, she said. Students, she said, are still very shocked by the sudden deaths of the Harriman children, who were well-known in this small community.
A separate ceremony will be held at a later time for their mother, Jeannine LePage, 44, who police said shot her children in her bed Nov. 20 before turning the gun on herself.
Nicholas and Nadia were pronounced dead at the scene. Alexander and LePage died days later at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.
LePage's brother, Michael, his wife, Jill, and their two children also live in the home. Police said they did not hear the gunshots because Jeannine LePage muffled them with a pillow.
Volunteers have helped Michael and Jill LePage since the shooting, sprucing up the outside of their home on Holly Park Drive with mulch and Christmas decorations. Michael and Jill LePage are members of Holy Eucharist Catholic Church, 520 Medford Lakes Road in Tabernacle.
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