MOUNT PULASKI -- For those close to Rick and Ruth Gee and their children, the future will be missed as much as the past.

Several relatives and friends offered emotional remarks Monday during visitation and funeral service for the Gees and three of their children, Justina Constant, 16, Dillen Constant, 14 and Austin Gee, 11. The five were found in their Beason home Sept. 21, the victims of what police have called "a brutal homicide."

A young woman who described Dillen as her younger brother told the crowd of about 400 mourners at the Family Life Center in Mount Pulaski that she had moved to the area and was getting to know her brother and his other siblings. Rick and Ruth Gee each had children from previous relationships, making the service an audience of several different families.

"What I will miss the most is what would have been, things we were all going to do together, and getting close to Dillen," said the woman.

In closing, Dillen's sister told her younger brother, "The light in you was so bright every moment I spent with you. I'll see you when I get there."

Two other women who identified themselves as cousins of Rick Gee described the 46-year-old victim as a quiet man with a big heart.

Family friend John Johnson of Decatur opened the 30-minute service by saying, "You can't say Rick without saying Ruth. They were the hardest workers I've ever seen in my life."

Rick Gee, a construction worker, and his wife, Ruth Gee, 39, loved their family and lived a simple life on the northern edge of the small town of Beason, said Johnson.

The Gees would want to be remembered in a simple, unpretentious way, he said.

"To honor this family, just keep it real," said the family friend.

Busload of students

Among those who attended were students and faculty from Lincoln Community High School, where Justina was a student, and Chester-East Lincoln Elementary School, where the two younger children were students. A busload of high school students, each carrying a red carnation to honor Justina, arrived just prior to the start of the funeral.

A bulletin board covered with handwritten notes from children was on display along with posters covered with family photographs.

"I think you are a smart girl. You will be in my heart forever," read one note directed toward Justina.

The Rev. Dayle Badman of Beason United Methodist Church asked people to pray for Tabitha Gee, the couple's 3-year-old daughter who remains hospitalized in Peoria.

A steady line of visitors walked past the open casket of Rick Gee and the urns containing the cremated remains of the four other slain family members during a four-hour visitation that preceded the funeral.

"Austin and I played a lot of sports together, especially on the playground," 10-year-old Savion Long said Monday morning after leaving the visitation. "He was good at sports like basketball and he was pretty fast. I guess I'll remember how he used to play tag. He was a fun guy to be around."

Savion said he and his friends have been coping by talking about the fun they shared.

"We will miss him, but we have memories of our times together," he said.

A burial service at a rural Chestnut cemetery followed the funeral.