CUMMINGTON – A Monday morning car crash involving a Toyota Corolla and a box truck ended tragically, taking the life of 87-year-old resident Edith Morton, her daughter Donna Dyer confirmed on Tuesday.
Just before 9:30 a.m., first responders were called to the intersection of Route 9 and Fairgrounds Road, where a preliminary investigation found that the Corolla was traveling north on Fairgrounds, entered the intersection of Route 9 and collided with the box truck traveling east on Route 9, according to the Northwestern district attorney’s office.
Morton was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger in the car was flown by helicopter to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield with “serious injuries.”
The box truck driver was not injured and “remained cooperative at the scene,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement.
“My family is heartbroken and we are praying for Cynthia and her family,” said Dyer, who did not feel comfortable providing the passenger’s last name.
Morton’s husband of 61 years, Donald Morton, worked for the Cummington Highway Department for many years and died in 2019. According to his obituary, Edith was the mother of two daughters, both Dyer of Goshen and Deborah Forsaith of Bernardston. As of 2019, Edith also had four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The crash remains under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the DA’s Office, the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Section, the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section, Crime Scene Services, and the Cummington Police Department.