The Washington Crossing United Methodist Church in Upper Makefield, Pa., hosted a prayer vigil for victims of fatal flash flooding in Bucks County on July 20, 2023. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
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Strangers, neighbors, and loved ones gathered on Thursday evening to pray, sing, and collectively grieve the lives lost to the devastating flash flood on Saturday in Upper Makefield, as the search for the two missing children — 2-year-old Mattie Sheils and 9-month-old Conrad Sheils — continues.
About 150 people filled the Crossing Church in Upper Makefield, Bucks County, for a community vigil with music and prayer. Each person held a candle for the people who drowned.
“The community is really coming together to try to heal,” said Linda Mitchell, from Southampton, Bucks County. “People are feeling vulnerable because this was so shocking, and almost hard to understand … All of the five people, they represented our community.”
The church sits around the corner from the road that flooded this weekend. Church volunteers opened their doors on Saturday for those who were rescued from the water.
Lead Pastor George Clash said they wanted to open their doors once again, to help the many residents grieving over the tragedy.
“We feel the heaviness in the community,” Clash said. “There’s a real sense of loss even though many of the people, especially who will be here tonight, do not know these families personally,” Clash said.
Several of the victims were from the area. Yuko Love and Enzo and Linda Depiero were from Newtown, Bucks County. Susan Barnhart was from Titusville, New Jersey, and worked at the local post office. Katie Sealy was visiting family from South Carolina.
Mitchell works at the gym Yuko Love attended and remembers her fondly.
“We have over 10,000 members and everybody knows her… everybody is just devastated,” Mitchell said. “The first time she ever said hello to me, I felt like she loved me. She was a genuinely special human being.”
Debbie Crow owns an art gallery in Washington Crossing, and came to know Barnhart through her years at the post office.
“[Barnhart] was a really wonderful person, she was very sweet, just really helpful, and very pleasant,” Crow said. “Everybody loved her here.”
The church collected money for the families of the victims. Multiple Gofundme campaigns are being shared online, including for Susan Barnhart’s family, which has raised more than $30,000, and for the Sheils family, which has raised more than $216,000.
Pastor Clash spoke directly to the Sheils family, and said the community, and the nation, is praying for the discovery of their two children.
“I can speak for myself, I can speak for the staff here at the church — we have wept, we have prayed, we have sat with that feeling of powerlessness and hopelessness in this situation. And it’s times like these that we are not alone,” Clash said.
On Friday morning, the Upper Makefield Police Department said it is deploying K9 teams and search teams to comb through the flood debris to find the children.
Attendees left the vigil in sadness, but grateful for the ability to collectively mourn.
Amy Kasternakis of Titusville, New Jersey, who often walks along the river and nearby streams, said she feels deeply for the families.
“I felt the need to have a gathering, a ritual, to not be alone, to bring some structure to chaos, and to show up for people who are really hurting, and get comfort myself.”
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