text: Eight coffins lined the stage of a Maryland auditorium for the funeral services Saturday for a family that died from carbon monoxide poisoning in their home earlier this month. The Todd family - a 36-year-old father and his seven children aged six to 15 - were tragically killed as they slept in their Princess Anne home. Father Rodney Todd was raising the children after divorcing their mother in November. The six-hour funeral service brought 1,200 people to the Ella Fitzgerald Auditorium at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday to pay their respect to the family. Scroll down for video . Mourners file in as a viewing for Rodney Todd and his seven children is held on Saturday at the Ella Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center in Princess Anne, Maryland . Mourners sob and comfort each other as they walk past the seven caskets lining the stage during the service . The Todd family - a 36-year-old father and his seven children aged six to 15 - were tragically killed by carbon monoxide poisoning as they slept in their Princess Anne home . Todd and his children were poisoned in their sleep only days after the power company discovered a stolen meter and cut off electricity to their rental home, police said . Men, women and children, some in funeral attire and others donning T-shirts reading 'The Todd Family: Gone But Not Forgotten' walked across the stage to visit the coffins of five girls, two boys and one man. The children have been named as children as boys Cameron Todd, 13, and Zycheim Todd, 7; and girls Tynijuiza Todd, 15; Tykira Todd, 12; Tybree Todd, 10; Tyania Todd, 9; and Tybria Todd, 6. Their caskets, arranged in order of age, were lined with white and decorated with heart-shaped floral arrangements, according to The Baltimore Sun. The boys and father were dressed in white suits and the girls in lace dresses and tiaras. The children's mother, Tyisha Chambers, 36, sat in the front row of the auditorium and did not speak during the service. Todd and his children were poisoned in their sleep only days after the power company discovered a stolen meter and cut off electricity to their rental home, police said. Delmarva Power said it cut off power for safety reasons on March 25, not because the family was behind on its bills, as family members previously had said. A woman walks past the caskets of Rodney Todd and his seven children. The funeral service included gospel singing, prayer and words of hope . A boy looks up at one of the caskets during the service. Dr John Gaddis, superintendent of Somerset County Public Schools, where the children attended class, said that the family was close . Rodney Todd's mother Bonnie Edwards, center, walks alongside her husband Lloyd Edwards for a viewing for her son and seven grandchildren on Saturday . With the power out, Todd, who worked a $10-an-hour job in dining services at the university, had bought the generator and put it in his kitchen to keep his two sons and five daughters warm. Friends and relatives last saw them alive March 28. 'Probably it was bedtime and they decided they needed some light and probably some heat, because toward the end of March even though it was spring we were having some pretty chilly nights,' Princess Anne police Chief Scott Keller said. Police found their bodies April 6 inside the one-story, wood-frame home on Maryland's Eastern Shore after school workers, friends and the father's co-workers knocked on the door with no answer. The funeral service included gospel singing, prayer and words of hope. Reverend Donna Bowers of Crossroads International Fellowship in Princess Anne said that Todd was a man who did his best to make sure his children were at church on every Sunday. Dr John Gaddis, superintendent of Somerset County Public Schools, where the children attended class, said that the family was close. Rodney Todd, pictured left and right, was killed along side his seven children sometime between March 28 and April 6. Delmarva Power said it cut off power for safety reasons on March 25, and then Todd brought a generator into the home . Ty'Nijuiza Todd, 15, (left) and her 12-year-old sister Ty'Kira (right) were two of Todd's daughters who were killed in the carbon monoxide accident . Todd's eldest son Cameron, 13, is pictured left with his sister, 15-year-old Tynijuiza and 7-year-old Zycheim (right) were also killed . 'We have all been touched by stories of [the children's] kindness and the purity of their hearts,' he added. Family friend Tylicia Bolden spoke specifically of each family member as she stood in front of more than 1,000 people at the funeral. Ty'breyia, or Brea-Brea, would have turned six on April 4, and was a 'bright student with beautiful handwriting' who was 'already... writing complete sentences with highly detailed illustrations,' Bolden read from an obituary. Zhi'heen, seven, was a first-grader who 'was a charmer and fancied himself a ladies' man,' she said. Ty'Niah, who would have turned nine in May, was 'respectful, kind to others, helpful and a hard worker,' the 'kind of student every teacher wanted.' Ty'Nijuiza was ten and loved borrowing her older sisters' clothing, Bolden said. Twelve-year-old Ty'Keria was a 'good athlete' and a 'girly-girl'. Cameron, the oldest boy, was 13. His nickname was 'Pun', and he was a 6ft 3in 'gentle giant' who loved basketball and was always there to encourage his siblings. Ty'Juzaina was the oldest at 15. She loved socializing, 'big dangling earrings' and the color purple, Bolden said. Rodney Todd's mother, Bonnie Edwards, center, and Stephanie Wells (right) mourn the loss of Rodney Todd and his seven children at a prayer vigil in Princess Anne on April 10 . Bonnie Edwards, is hugged at a prayer vigil in front of her son's home on April 10. She said that her son 'knew the children from the inside out' Lloyd Edwards, center left, stands next to his wife, the mother of Rodney Todd, Bonnie Edwards, as they mourn outside her son's residence on April 10 . As for their father, he had a troubled past but was turning his life around and caring for his children the best he could. He married Chambers in 2007, but in 2001 she accused him of attacking her with a knife. He pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and spent one year in jail and 18 additional months on probation. His mother Bonnie Edwards, and family friends said that he made sure to stay in touch with the kids' teachers and learned to braid his daughters' hair. 'There was nothing he would not do for [his children], and he always put their needs ahead of his own,' Bolden told the audience, according to the Baltimore Sun. + . Todd's work supervisor, Stephanie Wells said that he was a devoted father and was genuine and outgoing. 'He was the light of our life,' she said. 'We loved him and we loved the children.' At the end of the service, the eight caskets were wheeled through the auditorium into eight white hearses waiting outside. Mourners watched, some sobbing with grief and others still in shock, remembering the family they all loved. Vaunter Campbell, a coworker of Rodney Todd, mourns outside of the family's residence on April 10, four days after the Todd family was found dead in their home . Mourners gather at the Todd residence for a prayer vigil in Princess Anne. A memorial was created outside the home where people joined together . At the vigil on April 10, mourners released balloons into the air as a memorial of the family of eight who died .
target: The Todd family died sometime between March 28 and April 6 .
  Rodney Todd, 36, lived in the Princess Anne, Maryland home with his seven children, aged six to 15 .
  The six-hour funeral brought 1,200 people together to pay their respects .
  Todd and his children were poisoned in their sleep after a power company discovered a stolen meter and cut off electricity to their rental home .
  Todd had bought a generator and put it in his kitchen to keep his two sons and five daughters warm .