HEAD-ON CRASH KILLS GIRL, MOTHER\Woman loses control of car on wet street.

Byline: Jeannette DeSantis Daily News Staff Writer

A Northridge woman and her 8-year-old daughter were killed Friday morning when their car slid on a rain-soaked street into oncoming traffic and was broadsided by a truck, authorities said.

Silvia, 28, and Viridiana Funez, 8, were driving west on Roscoe Boulevard to a West Hills address where the mother worked as a housekeeper.

At 7:09 a.m., their Hyundai sedan was hit by a pickup truck driven by Harry Daglas of Thousand Oaks, said Officer Carl Helms of the LAPD's Valley Traffic Division.

"The street was extremely wet," said Helms, who investigated the accident. "She tried to avoid a car and overcorrected, then lost control and slid into the eastbound lanes."

The mother and daughter, who were both wearing seat belts, died at the scene, he said. Daglas, 31, was not treated at the accident site but complained of back pain, Helms said.

"She was always a careful driver," said her husband of 10 years, Carmendo Funez, at the family's small Bryant Street apartment. Family and friends had gathered there Friday night to console Funez and his surviving daughter, 4-year-old Corina, who sat quiet and withdrawn.

"She said she knows her sister is not coming back," said a tearful Reyes Garibay, Silvia's oldest brother.

Viridiana, nicknamed "Viri," a third-grader at Napa Street School, never went with her mom to work before, Funez said as he sat in the couple's bedroom.

"This was the first time," he said. "I don't know why."

He said his wife worked hard, cleaning one or two houses a day. She was a devoted mother and wife who attended a Christian church three days a week with her family, he added.

The couple had hoped to have another child in a few years, family members said.

"She was the best of the best," said Funez, a cook for Denny's restaurant for the past 12 years. "She always stood by me and took care of me well."

Viri's third-grade teacher described her as a good student who, although shy, had many friends and was an avid handball player.

"She was one of the sweetest little girls I ever had," teacher Eva McCormick said. "I don't know how I am going to tell her classmates."

The family is trying to scrape together funds to send the bodies to their hometown of Portrerillos, in Jalisco, Mexico.

"We are poor people, not rich," Garibay said. "We are trying to come together and raise enough money."

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PHOTO

Photo (1) Andrana Garibay, 27, hugs her niece Eliana Garibay, 9, at the home of relatives Silvia, 28, and Viridiana Funez, 8, who died Friday in a head-on collision in West Hills. The Rev. Jole Gomez, rear right, and Carmendo Funez pray with relatives. (2) Police and firefighters examine the car in which Silvia Funez, 28, and her daughter Viridiana died. Hans Gutknecht/Daily News (3) SILVIA FUNEZ (4) VIRIDIANA FUNEZ