The children of a former Mercy Hospital surgeon, who were removed from his home in New Mexico last week after abuse allegations, are safe with relatives pending the outcome of the case against him and his wife.

That news provided some comfort yesterday for former neighbors in Fox Chapel and O'Hara who remember the 10 polite, happy children of the late Maureen Yaw, who died of cancer seven years ago.

Her husband, Dr. Kenneth Yaw, 54, and his second wife, Rita Starceski, 43, were charged on Thursday by police in Las Cruces, N.M., with abusing four of his five girls by confining them in the garage and forcing three of them to live alone in a run-down rented trailer for two months as punishment for stealing.

"I cannot believe what has happened to Maureen Farrell Yaw's beautiful babies," one family friend said by e-mail. "She literally gave her life to have them and keep them well and happy."

Maureen gave birth to her 10th child while battling the breast cancer that killed her on Sept. 30, 2001.

Friends who asked not to be identified uniformly described Maureen, an Ohio native and former nurse, as a loving Irish-Catholic mother whose well-behaved children would show up at the pool in matching orange T-shirts or occupy an entire pew during services at St. Joseph Parish in O'Hara in their coordinated outfits.

They were reserved and respectful, which seemed to match Dr. Yaw's personality.

"I am profoundly sad about how things turned out for the Yaw family," said one friend.

When Maureen died, Dr. Yaw described her in an obituary as an "angelic wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, confidant, soul mate and neighbor."

But then he married Ms. Starceski, and friends said he distanced himself from neighbors after that and eventually moved out of Fox Chapel.

An orthopedic surgeon specializing in pediatric cancer, he had worked at the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and later at Mercy Hospital until November, when he took a job in Las Cruces and moved the family to a golf community there.

Four of the girls -- the 11-year-old, 13-year-old and 15-year-old twins -- made the move and were schooled at home.

It's not clear where all of the other children are, although two of the boys are in the military and the oldest girl, 27, is also on her own.

Police in New Mexico said they first had contact with the family in May, when Ms. Starceski and Dr. Yaw said the three oldest girls were stealing money from them. The girls were charged with larceny and assigned a probation officer.

As punishment for the theft, Dr. Yaw, an Air Force veteran, rented a trailer in a mobile home park and took the three girls there in early June to live alone for the next six weeks, according to an affidavit.

The girls told police they also been had confined in the attached garage of the $600,000 home, sometimes for three or four days and nights, with sleeping bags, bread, peanut butter and bottles of water. The confinement was punishment for various misbehavior, according to the complaint.

The 11-year-old said she was locked up for grabbing the dog by the collar and not using a leash, as was one of her sisters for sliding around on a tile floor with wet feet that she'd dunked in a bucket when she was supposed to be mopping.

During the confinement, the 11-year-old said, her father would come out three times a day to tell her it was time to use the bathroom.

Ms. Starceski, the girl said, never checked on her but was "fully aware that she was in the garage."

The girl also told police that she believed her punishment was "appropriate and that she deserves confinement."

The other girls told similar stories.

One of them said they had pilfered cash from their parents, hiding it next to the water tank, so they "wear clothes like the other kids wear" and enroll in public school.

In response, Dr. Yaw woke the three oldest girls at 2 a.m. one day in early June, told them to pack their things and drove them to the trailer park.

He escorted them to a dirty, unfurnished trailer, according to the complaint, and told them, "Welcome to your new home." He left them with a bag of pinto beans, bread, flour, a jar of peanut butter, a pot and some utensils, and a cell phone that would only dial his and Ms. Starceski's cell phones.

The girls said Dr. Yaw later brought them some flour, which they mixed with water to make flat bread.

After two weeks in the trailer, one of the girls apologized in a letter to her parents and her father picked her up and took her home.

The other two stayed in the trailer until Aug. 5. On that day, one of them said her father sent her to a military academy in Roswell, N.M. The other girl ran away, but Dr. Yaw picked her up and brought her home.

Both parents have been charged with seven counts of felony child abuse and are free on bond.