(KSDK) -- About 300 friends and family said goodbye today to April Wheeler. Wheeler was shot and killed last Friday night while trying to help her friend, Kelli Alexander.

Alexander was also fatally shot by her husband John who later died in a car crash while trying to elude police on Highway 40.

Funeral services for 29-year-old Wheeler were held this morning at Church of the Shepherd in St. Peters.

Amanda Darnell, a family spokesperson, says today's service was a celebration of Wheeler's life. "We're just celebrating April and she's in a better place right now and we don't know why it had to happen, but we knows she's in a better place and we're just celebrating the fond memories we have of her."

April leaves behind husband, Mark, and two young children. Funeral services for Kelli Alexander are Friday.

Husband Talks With Mike Bush "April would've, and she did, give her life for a friend and she would've done that for anybody," says her husband Mark.

Four days after April's death, Mark Wheeler is grieving and determined, "Just because this happened doesn't mean I'm going to stop helping friends. Oh gosh, I can't even begin to tell you how many friends are helping me now. It's just the right thing to do."

Helping others was April's passion, says Mark.

The Wheelers met while they were both serving in the Marines. They moved to St. Louis, April's hometown, in 2000, so she could care for her ailing father. He died three years ago.

Mark says April met Kelli Alexander through mutual friends, and offered her refuge from an abusive marriage, "Kelli was in a bad situation and April was just trying to help her get out of it. And she was getting out of it. She was starting to see life in a way she hadn't seen it all, which was great."

Kelli and her three children moved in with the Wheelers. Then last Friday, April was following Kelli and the kids to supervise a visit between the children and their father at a church fish fry.

On the way, Kelli and April were shot and killed by John Alexander.

"She wasn't intimidated by anything, and I believe that man was scared of her," says Mark.

Mark Wheeler says there is no point in being angry. He'd rather spend the energy giving his two children, ages 1 and 5 a hug.

Mark says that Gabriel, 5, told the family that it is still OK to ask mommy important questions, "He said, 'What you do is you go outside at night and you find the brightest star and that's mommy. And you ask her and she'll tell you.'"

The Wheeler family, who held April's visitation Tuesday night in St. Peters, is grateful to all the friends and strangers who've offered support during this very tough time.

Mark says he knows April will never be forgotten, "I've never met anyone like her, and I probably never will."

Watch Kelly Jackson's report here.