PINEHURST, N.C. — Family and friends gathered Saturday in North Carolina to say goodbye to a pregnant Frederick woman and her two preschool-age daughters who were killed last month.

Shanann Watts, 34, was found in a shallow grave and daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, were found in an oil tank days after they were reported missing. Police arrested Shanann Watts’ husband, Christopher. He faces nine felony counts, including five counts of first-degree murder and one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy.

“We’re heartbroken to hear about such a tragedy” said Barbara Lattanze, a member of the church as she walked into Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.

A funeral mass was held for Shanann, Bella, Celeste and her unborn son, Nico, in Pinehurst, a small community more than 70 miles from the state’s capital, Raleigh. Shanann grew up in North Carolina and has family in Aberdeen.

The tight-knit community in and surrounding Pinehurst is known for being a destination for golf lovers and retirees. It’s a place where a cluster of small towns — including Southern Pines and Aberdeen — seamlessly roll into one another.

And just as the deaths of Shanann and her children have captured the nation’s attention, it has reverberated throughout the community here, including with children who have taken to selling purple plastic bracelets with the names of Shanann, Bella, Celeste and Nico written in white.

“There’s definitely a response,” said Jason Johnson, the owner of The Corner Store, a boutique market in Pinehurst that sells items ranging from beer and wine to candy and homemade ice cream. “I do know it’s something on the mind.”

Johnson, who said he went to high school with Shanann but did not know her, has noticed that the deaths have resonated with children shopping at his store. He said it’s because of Bella and Celeste that the children seem to relate to the case.

“It seems to have hit or touched some of them,” Johnson said.

The case has even affected those who do not know Shanann or her family. Indeed, the family has received such an outpouring of support from people who have been following the case nationwide that they decided to stream the funeral services live on Facebook, which more than 150,000 people have viewed.

People are attracted to the case partly because they relate to Shanann as an “average mom,” said Tammy Greenblatt, 43, of Pinehurst.

“Even if they’re not tied to her or her family in any way, they feel a connection,” said Greenblatt, who has followed the case but does not know the family.

During the funeral, the Rev. John Forbes read messages from Shanann Watts’ parents and brother.

Frankie Rzucek described his older sister as an ambitious, outgoing woman who always wanted to be a mother, even though her battle with lupus made pregnancy more challenging.

“Closets were full before she was even pregnant,” Rzucek wrote in the letter Forbes read aloud. “She couldn’t wait.”

Frank Rzucek, Shanann Watts’ father, promised to look after his granddaughter’s truck and asked Forbes to tell the congregation and his daughter that he had “so much to say, but I will make it short: Daddy loves you. You will always be daddy’s little girl.”

Forbes told the congregation that Shanann Watts’ mother described her as a fireball and a woman who loved her family and friends.

“She wanted to make a difference,” Forbes said.

And her family hopes to make a difference in her memory.

“They’d like to see a law passed to recognize the lives of unborn children like their grandson Nico,” Forbes said. “They’ve set up funds to gather resources to help the Lupus foundation. … They hope this tragedy will bring people closer to God.”

When the funeral ended, pallbearers consisting of family members — including her father, brother and uncle — placed Shanann in a white hearse between the two carrying her daughters. And then Shanann and her children were taken to their final resting place at Bethesda Cemetery in Aberdeen.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for memorial donations to be made in Shanann Watts’ memory to the Lupus Foundation of America in Washington, D.C.; the Frederick Police Department’s missing persons division; or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Online condolences can be made at bolesfuneralhome.com.