( CNN ) Jami Smith Lane clearly remembers saying goodbye to her 14-year-old daughter , Sierra Wilder , for the last time . It was a typical interaction between a parent and a teenage child . Sierra had just got into her uncle 's jeep , ready to set off for a vacation in Florida . `` I put her bags in the back , and I said , 'You get over here . ' And I made her open that door , and I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek -- and she kind of rolled her eyes at me . And I said , ' I love you , ' '' Lane recalled . The fleeting moment has become a precious memory for Lane . `` That 's something you ca n't ever , ever take away , '' she told CNN 's Anderson Cooper on Monday . The small plane carrying Sierra back home from vacation crashed Friday in western Kentucky . Sierra and three others on board the plane were killed . But her 7-year-old cousin , Sailor Gutzler , somehow survived the disaster . 'We thought we had so much more time ' Sailor 's extraordinary tale of survival and the tragic deaths of four of her family members -- her mother , father , sister and cousin -- have captured worldwide attention . At the same time , the family and the community in the small town of Nashville , Illinois , are still trying to come to terms with the loss of four beloved members . `` This town and this world is just going to be so different without them , '' said Lane . `` They were all such beautiful , beautiful people -- inside and out . '' She described her daughter as `` a girly girl '' who loved music , dancing , clothes , makeup and her friends and family . `` Sierra was so kind to everybody , and she looked at the positive in everything , '' she told CNN . Lane said the loss has taught her a powerful lesson that she hoped other people would take away from the disaster . `` You do n't know if somebody 's going to walk out that door and you 're never going to see them again , '' she said . `` That 's what all her friends are saying at school -- they thought they had so much time with her , just like we did . We thought we had so much more time . '' Sierra had four brothers and also loved taking care of her younger cousins . Family members are coping as best they can . `` We 're helping each other out and leaning on each other , '' Lane said . `` We have a lot of kids in the family and we were very close , so it 's very difficult . The children are doing as well as I think can be expected . '' ' I can think of her kicking a soccer ball ' The other family members who died in the plane crash were Sierra 's uncle and aunt , Marty and Kimberly Gutzler , and Piper , their 9-year-old daughter . Piper loved sports , particularly soccer , basketball and softball , according to an obituary published Monday . `` I can think of her kicking a soccer ball or running around -- that ` s what I think about , '' Michael Brink , a school superintendent in Nashville , told CNN affiliate KTVI . Piper also enjoyed `` going to the beach and being with family , '' the obituary said . Marty Gutzler , 48 , owned a furniture store in Nashville and loved flying , boating and spending time with his family , his obituary said . Chris Collins -- the director of the airport in Mount Vernon , Illinois , where Gutzler housed his Piper PA-34 -- said they 'd known each other for more than 20 years . `` He was on a first-name basis with everyone . That 's how Marty was . He knew everyone . And everyone knew him , '' Collins told CNN affiliate KFVS . He said what he remembered about Gutzler , a pilot of more than 30 years , was `` his friendliness , his smile -- he never met a stranger . '' ' A devastation for our community ' Kimberly Gutzler , 46 , `` loved her animals , traveling , painting and spending time with her family , '' according to her obituary . She and her husband were pillars of the community , according to Travis Volz , a family friend . `` They were just a mainstay for every event , everything , everything that happened , every sport , every activity they were always involved in it , '' Volz told KTVI . Marty Gutzler 's pastor , Matthew Wietfeldt , at the Trinity Lutheran Church , said the loss of the four family members `` is a devastation for our community . '' `` We 're hurting , '' he told CNN . `` We 're so saddened by the loss and are grieving the loss of Marty and Kim and Piper and Sierra . '' Lane said the community was rallying around the family and remembering the dead by repeating the phrase `` fly high . '' `` Everyone 's opening their arms and sending well wishes , '' she said . `` And all of them are telling everyone to 'fly high . ' '' I was the sole survivor : 4 stories of plane crash survival .
` ` We thought we had so much more time , '' ' Smith Lane told CNN . Her 14-year - old daughter was killed in the plane and that one child survived .