2 girls mourned in July Fourth boat accident
Harlie Treanor, 11, and Victoria Gaines, 8, died when a boat capsized and sank off Oyster Bay July 4. Credit: Facebook ; Handout
On a better summer day, Victoria Gaines might have danced. Harlie Treanor might have tossed the softball.
Instead, Sunday they were mourned in separate wakes, Victoria's in Hicksville at Vernon C. Wagner Funeral Home, and Harlie's in Huntington Station at M.A. Connell Funeral Home.
Victoria, 7, of Huntington, and Harlie, 11, of Huntington Station, drowned on the Fourth of July with Harlie's cousin, David Aureliano, 12, of Kings Park. The boat they were aboard with family and friends capsized and sank in the Long Island Sound after a fireworks show.
Sunday, a stream of black-clad mourners shook hands and shared hugs outside the funeral homes or simply hurried inside.
Most were adults; some were children.
"All the little girl's friends are in there," said Dina Horowitz, 50, of Bellmore, as she left Victoria's wake. "It's horrible."
Victoria would have turned 8 on Friday. Family friends said she loved to dance.
On the M.A. Connell webpage memorializing Harlie, a picture shows her beaming, with long red hair.
One posted comment recalled her on the softball field with a smile so bright it could "light up the whole field."
Kimberlie Liccardi, who said she was Harlie's neighbor, wrote about meeting her just last week when the girl visited to offer her baby-sitting services.
"So industrious, so cute and so very bold!" she wrote. "With your hair in a pigtail on one side, you smiled in excitement when I asked you about camp! I am grateful for that few moments of getting to know you. You made a big impression!"
David's wake was Saturday. His funeral is to be held Monday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Northport.
A funeral Mass for Victoria will be offered Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. at St. Patrick's Church on Main Street in Huntington village, according to a notice on the Huntington school district webpage.
The Gaines family has set up a donation account, the Victoria Gaines Memorial Trust Fund, to aid the family with expenses. The website is victoriagainesmemorial.com.
A private service for Harlie will be held Tuesday at M.A. Connell Funeral Home in Huntington Station.
Authorities are still investigating how the 34-foot Silverton boat, named the Kandi Won, capsized with 27 people aboard.
Newsday Live: A chat with Joan Baez Join Newsday Entertainment Writer Rafer Guzmán and Long Island LitFest for an in-depth discussion with Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and social activist Joan Baez about her new autobiographical poetry book, "When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance."
Newsday Live: A chat with Joan Baez Join Newsday Entertainment Writer Rafer Guzmán and Long Island LitFest for an in-depth discussion with Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and social activist Joan Baez about her new autobiographical poetry book, "When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance."