A fund has been set up help with the funeral and burial expenses for the Napa grandmother and her two grandchildren who died in a house fire early Monday morning.

Aurora Castanon, 58, her grandsons, Matthew Castanon, 12, Giovanni Mendez, 4, along with Aurora’s longtime boyfriend, Eutimio Torres, 37, died in the  5 a.m. Monday fire at 1418 Vale Avenue in the Alta Heights district of east Napa.

Laura Zepeda, a long-time friend of Norma Mendez, the boys’ mother, said a fund has been set up for family for funeral and burial expenses.

The account is at Redwood Credit Union, 1705 First St., Napa under the name of Castanon Memorial Fund.

Zepeda, who said Norma Mendez is her best friend, paid her respects early Tuesday morning at Castanon’s home with flowers, a bright orange pair of boxing gloves and a plastic dinosaur.

“Matthew and my son grew up together. This is tragedy is like off the charts. Norma is my best friend. I don’t know she going to get through this,” Zepeda said.

“Boxing gloves are for Matthew and the dinosaur for GG (Giovanni.) He just loved dinosaurs,” she said.

Zepeda said Mendez and the children were visiting Aurora on Sunday.

“When she got ready to go home, she told the boys, ‘Come on, let’s go.’ But the boys, especially the baby (Giovanni) just loved his grandma and loved staying at her house. They pleaded with her to let them stay. She gave in and said yes,” Zepeda said.

“Aurora was like the greatest grandma. My son has spent the night with her when Matthew would be there. She would cook all this good stuff for the kids and give them all this attention. The boys adored her. Eutimio has lived with Aurora for at least 15 years. He was like a grandpa to the boys. That’s how they thought of him. He was a great man.”