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MELBOURNE - The outer Melbourne community of Rowville will today farewell a mother and two daughters who died in the Kerang level crossing disaster.
Craig Meredith lost his wife Stephanie, 42, and daughters Danielle, eight, and Shantal, five, when their train was struck by a semi-trailer on a level crossing near Kerang last week, killing 11. They were on their way home from visiting Stephanie's parents in Balranald.
A memorial service for the trio will be held at 2pm (AEST) today at St Simon the Apostle Catholic Church in Rowville.
A service for crash victim Margaret Wishart, 78, will be held at 11am today at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Kerang.
Ms Wishart was only minutes from home when the accident happened. She was returning after a regular dialysis treatment at a hospital in Mildura.
St Simon the Apostle priest Father Martin Dixon said the mass for the Merediths was expected to overflow with mourners.
Photographs of Mrs Meredith and her daughters will be screened during the one-hour service, which will include hymns, prayers from relatives and eulogies from two of the girls' teachers at St Simon the Apostle Catholic Primary School.
A symbolic release of two dozen balloons by young relatives will follow the service.
"It's that symbol of letting go to God, really," Father Dixon said.
"Children can identify with that. It's a little sense of release and letting go of a person they feel is special."
Father Dixon said the service would be a comfort for relatives who had been unable to attend the Merediths' funeral at St Dymphna's Catholic Church in Balranald on Monday.
The 620 fellow students of Danielle and Shantal attended a special mass for their schoolmates yesterday.
School principal Phil Hesse said balloons in the girls' favourite colours of pink and purple were released in a symbolic farewell.
A truck driver who has been charged over the fatal smash said yesterday he was grieving with the victims' families.
Truck driver Chris Scholl, who suffered head injuries in the crash, said he had reflected on the impact of the accident while in hospital.
Mr Scholl, 48, of Wangaratta in Victoria's north-east, faces a charge of culpable driving.
Amongst the dead was 32-year-old New Zealander Nick Parker.
- AAP
