GIG HARBOR, Wash. — Funeral services held today honored a well-known doctor and his 8-year-old daughter.
Both were killed in a house fire almost two weeks ago.
Hundreds of uniformed officers and school children filed into a Gig Harbor church to say goodbye.
One by one, St. Nicholas Catholic School third-graders got a chance to say goodbye to a classmate and friend.
Alice Babson, Allie to them, was special.
"She had a personality that shown brightly with effervescence and buoyancy. She lived a life with gusto," said teacher Victoria McDonald.
In many ways, she was like her father, Dr. Thomas Babson.
He died trying to pull her from their burning home on Fox Island on Dec. 4.
Allie's twin brother, sister and mother managed to escape and must now cope with the loss.
Family, friends and uniformed officers filled Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church to honor daughter and father.
"Tom was exceptional, very exceptional. And in a word, spirited," said friend Joe Meyer.
Tom was a retired Air Force colonel, an ER doctor, a reserve sheriff's deputy, and was also a medical officer on the Pierce County SWAT team.
To Sheriff Paul Pastor, Tom lived a life of duty and sacrifice until the very end.
"[Tom] was a man who lived and who died upholding core values of courage and responsibility and compassion," said Pastor.
Those attended the service watched photographs and home videos of the family.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
Gig Harbor Fire Department says the fire was an accident and that investigators are looking to see if it was an electrical fire.
There's no timeline as to how long it could take to find the cause.
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