Services Held for Oakmont Flood Victim

About 100 mourners filled Oakmont’s St. Irenaeus Catholic Church on Wednesday morning to say goodbye to Mary Saflin, who perished last Friday in Highland Park’s severe flash flooding.

The 72-year old Oakmont woman was remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and a friend who went out of her way to say “hello” to neighbors as she walked through Oakmont and who was sure when making one of her specialties, an ethnic pancake, to prepare them just the way each of her loved ones liked.

The Rev. Frank Kurimsky, pastor of , thanked those in attendance for coming together to provide support at a time of such tragic loss.  

“As hard as it is, it’s important that we come together, that we pray together,” he said. “It is important for us to remember Mary’s life.”

During the service, Kurimsky said Saflin was an active member of the Maryland Avenue Catholic church.

She had recently donated baked goods to St. Irenaeus’s annual parish festival, he said, and was a member of its Christian Mothers group.

“We celebrate that she was a friendly, nice member of this community of Oakmont,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to miss, that friendliness that she exhibited in this town.”

Kurimsky also stressed the significant role Saflin played in the life of her family. She was married to her husband Joseph Saflin for 49 years and often visited her grandchildren.  

Those gathered together on the overcast morning hugged each other and wiped away tears as the procession ending the funeral Mass exited the church.

Outside St. Irenaeus, a woman named Judy, who declined to give her last name, said she and Saflin had been “bingo buddies” at the .

“We’re just going to miss her,” she said.

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