Jake Prince was an outgoing 9-year-old who loved anything with wheels or cheese, telling unusual jokes and narrating his friends' video games.
Griffin Prince was a shy 13-year-old who talked with his hand over his mouth, was curious about how things worked and the finickiest eater anyone knew.
In life, the brothers were opposites in ways meaningful and inconsequential. In death, they brought together about 500 family members and friends for a funeral Tuesday in Suwanee that was at times hysterical and heartbreaking but always hopeful.
"Death will not diminish my love for them," their teary-eyed grandfather Gary Hansen told the crowd, "for I know they still live."
The brothers were killed June 18 when the pontoon boat driven by their father, Mike Prince, collided with a fishing boat on Lake Lanier. The boys' older brother, Ryan Prince, found Jake's body in the wreckage. Nine days later, authorities found Griffin's body after an arduous nine-day search in the murky depths of Lake Lanier, more than 100 feet below the surface.
Paul Bennett, 44, was driving the other boat in the collision. He has since been charged with boating under the influence.
During the search for Griffin, the Prince family expressed gratitude to members of law enforcement as well as the surrounding community, which also grieved the loss of the boys. A memorial Facebook page for Griffin and Jake has received more than 6,500 "likes" and nearly 12,000 messages of support.
Thus, it was little surprise that hundreds of family friends, neighbors, emergency responders who assisted during the search, and fellow church and Boy Scout members filed into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Suwanee to mourn their death.
"There's a whole different feeling in the air," said Cody Calderwood, a 15-year-old friend and fellow Scout. "It's been hard."
Jeff Humphrey, who delivered the eulogy, said Jake was particularly gregarious for his age, a big kid with glasses who "had to be the funnest guy in the room."
"He's about the only kid I knew that I wish I recorded everything he said," Humphrey said.
Humphrey said Griffin was "the opposite of Jake in so many ways." Family members said the teen had been coming into his own lately, chatting up lots of girls and getting a new haircut that drew attention at school. But at heart, they said, Griffin still preferred communicating through text messages and telling jokes under his breath.
"He hid from the spotlight," his grandfather said, choking up. "It's ironic at the end. I don't know how comfortable he would have been with all this attention."
Parents Mike and Tara Prince did not speak during the service and instead released a written statement. "We are humbled by this outpouring of love," they said.
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