The Hopkinton couple, stoic in their grief, had just kissed the pink and white casket their young daughters shared. Each parent placed an iris and violet alongside a larger bouquet filled with the flowers for which the little girls were named.

Tara and Heath and more than 100 family members and friends left Vernon Grove Cemetery in Milford after bidding a final farewell to Iris Carey, 4, and Violet Carey, 5 1/2, following a graveside service. The sisters, killed when their Hopkinton home exploded early last Wednesday morning, were buried once the mourners left.

More than 400 people, most of whom wore pink ribbons in honor of the sisters, packed St. Mary's Church in Milford two hours earlier. The Rev. Michael Foley, who baptized the sisters only a few years ago, gave the funeral Mass. He spoke directly to Tara and Heath Carey throughout most of the service.

"Part of me doesn't know what to say," Foley said following holy readings by two family friends and an offer of prayer.

"You've done such a good job. ... To see the life that was there, the vibrancy of Violet and Iris. That came from your love for them."

Foley said Tara and Heath are model parents who gave up many things by putting their "works of art" before their own happiness. And it's that style of parenting that gave Iris and Violet such full lives, he said.

"I looked at those hundreds of pictures (at the wake) and said, this 4-year-old and this 5-year-old lived more in those few years than most of us live in a lifetime," Foley said. "The amount of years is not what matters, it's the depth of love."

Tara and Heath expressed their love for their daughters in letters read by a family friend, David Hause.

"I loved you both with my heart, body and soul. You are both so beautiful and loving, it hurts my heart," Heath wrote. "We lived and breathed for both of you. We still live and breathe for you. ... A group of inseparables has been split down the middle like my heart."

Tara Carey wrote that Violet and Iris were angels sent down from Heaven to teach her and Heath the true meaning of love. God, she wrote, took them back to Heaven when they finished their mission.

"Through their love they sent a light to light our dark way," Tara wrote. "We really learned true love."

Loving the sisters was as natural as breathing, said their aunt Tiffany Germain, who needed the support of family friend Mary Carlson while she stood at the altar and delivered a tearful remembrance speech.

"They taught every one of us a little bit about ourselves. In the short time they lived, I saw them display every emotion. I'm honored I was able to be a part of their feelings," said Germain, whom the girls called "tantie."

"Violet Anna and Iris Mary brought our whole family closer, and now, as you can see, they brought the whole community together. Thank you for acknowledging what beautiful, precious babies they were, and will always remain. I love you Violet and Iris."

The explosion that killed the sisters may have been caused by a gas leak, but investigators are still checking out appliances and meters pulled from the wrecked home to determine the official cause, according to state fire marshal spokeswoman Jennifer Mieth.

The 1:41 a.m. blast at 65 Main St. left three other families homeless. Crews razed and removed the remains of the home the day after its wall blew out and collapsed.

Hopkinton Fire Chief Tom Irvin said he met with Fire Marshal Stephen Coan shortly after the funeral, which he attended with several police officers and firefighters. Nothing new came out of the meeting.

Irvin and his colleagues attended the funeral to support the Carey family.

"We want to, in some small way, let the family know we are thinking of them," he said. "We just wanted to let the family know they're in our thoughts."