He looked up to his older sister, wanting to do everything she could.

"They were the best of friends, going to school together, playing games together, and making endless drawings and crafts together."

The boy, whose family fondly called "J," will be incredibly missed, they said.

Grace McDonnell, 7

Grace was the "light and love of our family," her mother told CNN.

She loved her brother, school, the beach and wanted to be a painter.

For her 7th birthday in November, Grace requested a purple cake with a turquoise peace sign and polka dots. And that's exactly what she got.

"She was all about peace and gentleness and kindness," Lynn McDonnell told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "Grace didn't have an ounce of hate in her, and so we have to live through Grace and realize that hate is not how our family is."

The family drew cupcakes, ice creams cones, lighthouses and seagulls -- all things Grace loved -- on her tiny white casket.

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

A hero. That's how a first responder reportedly described Murphy to her father.

He told Newsday that authorities told him her body was found in a classroom, covering young children killed in the shooting in an apparent attempt to shield them.

"She died doing what she loved. She was serving children and serving God," Murphy's mother, Alice McGowan, told the newspaper.

A married mother of four, Murphy was artistic and hardworking, her parents said.

"She was a happy soul," her mother told Newsday. "She was a very good daughter, a good mother, a good wife."

Emilie Parker, 6

She could "light up a room," Emilie's father said about his oldest daughter.

Robbie Parker described her as "bright, creative and very loving." Emilie was always willing to try new things, he said, except food. Her laugh was infectious.

"My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing up and giving her love and support to all of those victims, because that is the type of person she is," Parker said.

He said she was "an exceptional artist and she always carried around her markers and pencils so she never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for someone."

"This world is a better place because she has been in it," Parker said.

Emilie's aunt described her niece as the "sweetest little girl I've ever known."

The family is devastated that "someone so beautiful and perfect is no longer going to be in our lives and for no reason," said Jill Cottle Garrett.

Emilie's father, who works as a physician's assistant in the newborn unit at the Danbury hospital, recalled his last conversation with his daughter was in Portuguese, a language he was teaching her.

"She said that she loved me, and I gave her a kiss and I was out the door," he said.

Jack Pinto, 6

Jack was a first-grader, and his interests ran the gamut -- baseball, basketball, wrestling, snow skiing. But his first love was football, and his idol was New York Giants star receiver Victor Cruz.

Cruz paid tribute to the team's young fan by scribbling "Jack Pinto. My Hero" on one of his cleats and "R.I.P. Jack Pinto" on the other during the team's game with the Atlanta Falcons over the weekend. On his glove, Cruz wrote, "Jack Pinto. This one is 4 U!"

Jack recently participated in his first wrestling match and won a medal, according to the president of the New Milford Wrestling Association.

"In life and in death, Jack will forever be remembered for the immeasurable joy he brought to all who had the pleasure of knowing him, a joy whose wide reach belied his six short years," Jack's family wrote in an obituary for the little boy.

Noah Pozner, 6

"He had a huge heart and he was so much fun, a little bit rambunctious, lots of spirit," Noah's aunt told CNN. "He was really the light of the room."

Victoria Haller said her nephew loved playing with his cousins and siblings, especially his twin sister.

"He was a gorgeous, gorgeous boy and he could really get what he wanted just by batting those long eyelashes and looking at you with those big blue eyes. You really couldn't say no to him," she said.

His siblings don't know yet the exact way in which Noah passed away, Haller said.

"How do you tell them that's how their brother died?" she asked. "It's the unthinkable really."

Caroline Previdi, 6

"You were a sweet little girl and you will be missed."

That's the message that Caroline's aunt reportedly tweeted, saying goodbye to her niece, according to the online version of the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, California.

"It hurts even more to see a familiar name on that list," the report said Paige Tremblay also tweeted.