MEADVILLE – A day after reputed Ku Klux Klansmen James Ford Seale was convicted in the 1964 deadly attacks on two black teenagers, family members gathered to remember their loved ones.

A marker was erected for Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, both 19 at the time of their deaths. It was placed near an ice-cream stand along a two-lane road – the site where confessed Klansman Charles Marcus Edwards testified that he, Seale and other KKK members picked up the hitchhiking teens on May 2, 1964. Their decomposed remains were found July 12 and 13, 1964, in the backwaters of the Mississippi River, south of Vicksburg.

&#8220When I heard … (Edwards’ apology), … it hurt me so – I cried and cried,” Dee’s sister Thelma Collins told the crowd of about two dozen people Friday. &#8220But if I don’t forgive this man, how can I get to heaven?”

Collins, of Springfield, La., was joined by daughter Mary Perry and her three daughters. Perry said her oldest has started to ask questions about the murders. She answers the best she can.

&#8220This is how we keep it alive,” Perry said. &#8220We can never forget.”

Thomas Moore, the 63-year-old brother of Charles Eddie Moore, has been credited with bringing the case back into the limelight. After Seale’s guilty verdict was announced Thursday night, the Colorado Springs, Colo., resident said, &#8220They can finally rest in peace.”

Seale, 71, was found guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy. He faces up to life in prison and will remain jailed until his sentencing Aug. 24. He has denied being a member of the Klan, although Edwards said they belonged to the same chapter, led by Seale’s late father.

The Rev. Elvis Colenberg of Fayette attended Friday’s marker dedication, he said, to help ease racial tensions he says are still very much alive.

&#8220All races – may they live together, play together and work together in freedom and happiness,” Colenberg prayed.

When asked what he thought about the trial’s outcome, he said, &#8220I expected him to be guilty. Since these trials have been going on recently, I expected it.”