Published: July 14, 2007 11:13 pm            

Faces of the Flood: ‘The flood just swept her away’

Julia Kameliski was just 13 when she came to this country from Hungary.

The boat she was on was in the ocean when World War I broke out, delaying the passengers’ entrance to New York Harbor, and so she did not see the Statue of Liberty right away.

But once in the United States she came to Pennsylvania and settled in Dilltown, Indiana County, where she opened a store and also set up housekeeping.

Then in 1977, at the age of 76, the floodwaters swept her away. Unlike other victims, her body was not quickly found.

And in the waiting and hoping and praying, her family saw both the good and the bad that comes with such a tragedy.

“We had almost stopped hoping, because when we would get a call, we would go up to see the bodies, but it was never mom, never mom, and finally we stopped going,” said Kameliski’s daughter-in-law, Marilu Kameliski.

“Finally, a month and a day later, she was found in Josephine, by a man riding his four-wheeler,” Marilu Kameliski said. “Everyone in Dilltown knew her. She had the store, she was a great homemaker, and she raised her children well. It was amazing. The flood just swept her away.”

Marilu Kameliski also lives in Dilltown and works for The Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown.

“I just hope she didn’t suffer,” she said

“I remember the confusion, the chaos of starting from scratch in 1977 with no birth certificates or records or anything,” Marilu Kameliski said. “Everything was gone. And the smell was everywhere. It was downtown; it was everywhere.

“There are stories and stories about losses, but compared to what? You can’t compare any material loss to the loss of a life.”

In recovering after the flood and Julia Kameliski’s death, the Kameliski family got vouchers for $700, as other flood victims did.

“But one store didn’t send what we ordered,” she said, “and they said, ‘You’re a flood victim, so you’ll take what they give you.’ And there were contractors who took the money but didn't do the work.”

But Marilu Kameliski kept her faith in God and in mankind.

“People would say ‘How could God do this,’ but God didn’t do it,” she said. “Man did it.”

And when she went to J.C. Penney to buy her four children clothing for school, she said she would have to pay later.

“He said not to worry, that the bill was paid in full,” she said. “J.C. Penney paid it. I’ll never forget that, and that’s why I shop there.”

        

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