Emmanuel Dunand / AFP - Getty Images
The second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history sent crying children spilling into the school parking lot as frightened parents waited for word on their loved ones.
By Tracy Connor and Ian Johnston, NBC News
With tears and hugs, a grief-rocked Connecticut town said farewell Monday to the first of its slain children: two 6-year-olds being buried in unbearably small coffins on a cold, gray day.
The funerals of first graders Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto will be followed by two dozen more services over coming days as the other children and staffers murdered at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday are laid to rest.
A mist of rain was in the air as mourners -- many in black, others in school gear emblazoned with a capital ?N? -- gathered outside the Honan Funeral Home on Main St. for Jack?s funeral.
Mourners said the sports-loving youngster wore the red-and-white jersey of his idol, New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, who had honored him by printing his name on his cleats for Sunday?s game.
At a viewing before the packed service, where psalms were read, members of a wrestling club presented Jack?s grandmother with his medal.
?We?re broken,? Jack Wellman, 13, who helped coach the junior wrestlers, said outside the funeral home.
?It?s a nightmare we?re not waking up from,? said his mother, Caren Wellman. Her son added, ?Unfortunately, there?s going to be a lot more.?
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Twenty-five miles away, in Fairfield, Noah?s family gathered at another funeral home, on a street where some nurses had decorated lampposts with white balloons. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy met with the boy?s relatives before the service at the Abraham L. Greene & Sons Funeral Home.
The families have pleaded for privacy as they mourn. But in newspaper death notices and interviews, they remembered the victims as they lived, not as they died.
An obituary from Noah?s family posed a heart-breaking question: ?How do you capture the essence of a six year old in just a few words??
Residents of Newtown mourned lives lost over the weekend. Meanwhile, Newtown schools will reopen on Tuesday, although Sandy Hook Elementary, where the shooting took place, will be moved to another building. NBC's Anne Thompson reports.
The brown-haired boy with the sweet smile -- whose twin sister, Arielle, was in a different classroom and survived Adam Lanza's murderous rampage ? was ?impish? and ?larger than life,? his loved ones said.
?Everything he did conveyed action and energy through love. He was the light of our family, a little soul devoid of spite and meanness.?
The family included a message for Noah, the youngest victim of the mass shooting: ?May you fly to that peaceful valley and wait for us there.?
His uncle, Alexis Haller, told the Associated Press that his nephew was a great reader who liked to figure out how things worked. He had gotten a Wii for his birthday two weeks ago.
"He was just a really lively, smart kid," the uncle said. "He would have become a great man, I think. He would have grown up to be a great dad."
There will be no reprieve from the sorrow in Newtown this week, as each day brings more funerals.
On Tuesday, there will be a noon service at St. Rose of Lima Church in Newtown for Jessica Rekos, 6, a girl who loved horses and had asked Santa for cowgirl boots and a hat. Her parents had promised to get her a horse when she was 10.
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?She was a creative, beautiful little girl who loved playing with her little brothers, Travis and Shane,? her family said in a statement.
?She spent time writing in her journals, making up stories, and doing ?research? on orca whales - one of her passions after seeing the movie ?Free Willy? last year.?She said her dream was to see a real orca.?Thankfully her dream was realized in October when she went to SeaWorld.?
The couple called Jessica, their first-born, the ?rock of the family.?
?She had an answer for everything, she didn't miss a trick, and she outsmarted us every time.? We called her our little CEO for the way she carefully thought out and planned everything,? they wrote.
As a community mourns those who were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting on Friday, children and parents come to terms with the tragedy. NBC's Michelle Franzen reports.
?We cannot imagine our life without her. We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can't play with his best friend.?
The funeral of teacher Victoria Soto, 27,?is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Lordship Community Church, Stratford. Burial will follow at Union Cemetery in Stratford.
Soto?s cousin, Jim Wiltsie, told the Wall Street Journal that she had tried to shield her first-graders from the bullets. "That is how she was found. Huddled with her children," Wiltsie said.
Seven-year-old student Daniel Barden?s funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Rose of Lima Church, followed by burial at St. Rose Cemetery.
A funeral mass for student Catherine Hubbard, 6,?is due to be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Rose of Lima Church, followed by burial at St. Rose Cemetery.
Her parents, Jennifer and Matthew Hubbard, released a statement expressing gratitude to emergency responders and for the support of the community. ?We are greatly saddened by the loss of our beautiful daughter, Catherine Violet, and our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have been affected by this tragedy,? they said.
The Connecticut Funeral Directors Association is releasing details of the services, and victims? families have been releasing statements with poignant memories.
The family of Ana Grace Marquez-Greene, 6, called her ?our precious angel? ? a generous spirit who left ?I love you? notes under her parents? pillow, who learned to sing before she talked, and who danced from room to room in her home.
?We ask that you pray for the legions of people who are left behind to cherish memories of her,? wrote her parents, Nelba Marquez-Greene and saxophonist Jimmy Greene.
?We also ask that you, like Ana, commit selfless acts of kindness to all those around you. Maybe, in some way, through love, similar senseless acts of violence could be prevented.?
Watch the entire interfaith vigil for Connecticut shooting victims, including President Obama's speech.
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