Cora Mae Raiford could not have foreseen the relentless fire that killed her and her eldest son, Kenneth, in their Homewood home on Friday, but the matriarch of a distinguished family and honorary mother to a troubled community knew that some day she would meet her Maker. So she gave her granddaughter a letter to share with those she left behind.

"The one thing I pray for when I lay my head to rest is peace and love ... Love those who it is hardest to love," Carmella Raiford read to 1,300 people at the funeral in Petra International Ministries, East Hills.

"If you are hearing this now, know that I have gone off to glory," she wrote.

"This means I have completed my mission on Earth and truly loved all that I could."

Ushers proffered tissues as the letter ended, but the service was one of joyous praise to God.

Mrs. Raiford, 86, was raised among sharecroppers in Alabama. Through faith, education and hard work, she and her husband, Eli, raised five accomplished sons and taught countless neighbors how to be spouses, parents and leaders. Kenneth Raiford, 56, taught high school history at the Petra Ministries school located in one of Pittsburgh's poorest neighborhoods. He had lived with his mother since his father moved to a nursing home.

Their caskets lay side by side. Hers gleamed white, adorned with a cascade of red roses and a photo of her smiling shyly in her wedding gown. She was buried in a red gown that her middle son, Cornelius, chose last weekend from a store rack labeled "homecoming dresses." Kenneth Raiford's casket was pale silver, topped with white flowers. He had been the first of her five sons to go to college, and spent his life passing along the education he had received.

Just before yesterday's service began, Eli Raiford was wheeled in. He touched the caskets gently in farewell.

"In this time of celebration, let us all re-examine our service to each other and ask, are we truly living a life according to faith and having a positive influence on somebody else's life?" said William Raiford of Monroeville, one of the four surviving sons, each of whom spoke.

Mrs. Raiford had a career at Action Housing, helping low income people find decent places to live. After her retirement she opened a "homemaker center" where young women received college credit for learning skills such as sewing, cooking, parenting and budgeting. She was an accomplished seamstress who spent long nights sewing prom gowns and bridal dresses for young ladies of Homewood.

Her son Cornelius, of Cheshire, Conn., recalled the sound of his mother's shoes resounding through the halls of Belmar School, where she often arrived unannounced to challenge his teachers about the quality of his education.

Kenneth, known as Kenny Ray, attended Duquesne University. There he joined the Groove Phi Groove Fraternity, dedicated to helping college-educated black men mentor others.

He taught public school in Wilkinsburg, then went to Imani Christian Academy, where his brother, Milton, was headmaster. All the students knew and loved him, said Jim Balthrop, an elder at Petra. "He was the face of the school. He was the first to get here, the last to leave."

Teaching at Imani was a financial sacrifice, but her uncle was happy to move in with his mother, Carmella Raiford said.

"He might not have had much money or things to offer, but he had love," she said.

Milton Raiford, the headmaster and a former attorney, spoke of the call he received about the fire, comparing it to a Bible verse in which Jesus tells Peter that someone "will lead you where you do not want to go."

"The other morning I got a call that I did not want to get ... And I reached out and grabbed God's hand and he took me somewhere that I did not want to go," he said.

At the charred home he found scores of people of all colors, including firefighters and police officers, doing everything they could to help each other.

"I couldn't help but stop and pray with them because I was seeing God in their actions. ... He was being glorified, and we were being unified," he said.

He spoke of people in need, those his mother and brother always sought to help, and challenged others to do the same.

Mrs. Raiford and Kenneth Raiford were laid to rest in Homewood Cemetery.