RUTLAND ― Despite Saturday’s bitter cold, an estimated 350 fire and police personnel from Rutland and neighboring communities waited patiently outside for a half hour to pay their respects to Ciara J. Sullivan and her family Saturday at Miles Funeral Home in Holden.
Married to Rutland firefighter Patrick D. Sullivan, Ciara Sullivan, 30, and the couple’s 11-day-old twins, James Michael and Elizabeth Joanne, died alongside each other Dec. 27 at UMass Memorial Medical Center — Memorial Campus, in Worcester.
Two Holden Police officers were directing traffic in and out of the funeral home’s parking lot.
Wearing their dress blues, the fire and police personnel gathered at the Holden Senior Center before walking down Main Street and lining up at the funeral home.
After the fire and police proceeded, friends and family paid their respect.
On the morning of Dec. 16, Ciara suffered a medical emergency requiring immediate and significant intervention, according to officials.
The Rutland community and firefighters throughout the region offered support as news spread that a firefighter’s wife and the couple’s newborn twins had been placed on life support.