Updated: Tragedy Struck Holliston 25 Years Ago Today

It happened 25 years ago today. Those who saw it will never forget it. My wife Suzanne was at her family home at the end of Marked Tree Road. This is her recollection:

"It was a beautiful, cloudless, sunny day. I went over to my mother’s house because my sister Karen was up from Pennsylvania visiting, and I wanted to say 'hi' to her.

We were outside in the backyard because it was so beautiful out and nice. My brother was sunning himself. He was on a lawn chair laying down getting a tan and we were sitting at a table chatting. All of a sudden my brother said 'Oh my God' and I heard a bang, followed by a 'crinkle, crinkle, crinkle.' I still remember that funky 'crinkle, crinkle' sound. I looked up and saw a plane going away from a helicopter, and the helicopter’s propeller was severed. I just thought, 'Oh my God, that helicopter is going to crash.'

The plane kept going, and the helicopter fell like a dead bird. It went one way, and the propeller went the other way, down the street. I remember thinking as the body of the helicopter was falling, that it was going to land in downtown Holliston. I had no concept of how far away it was going to land. I was horrified.

My brother ran in to call the police, but people had already called. I remember seeing the propeller going down the street and wondering where it was going to land, and we just started running up the street. We went up Robin Hill Road because we could see all these people running up there. When we got there, we stopped. You could see where the body of the helicopter had landed next to the last house on the street. They were building new homes to extend the street, so part of that area had been cleared.

The helicopter was just there. It wasn’t on fire or anything, it was just compressed and squished. You could see an arm hanging out of it. Somebody walked up to it and looked in and just shook their head. I didn’t get any closer than about 100 feet away. We stood and looked at it and then the fire engines came and the police. People went up to it and everyone was shaking their heads. Everybody was dead, and they put a tarp over it. After that, the street filled up with police, ambulances and reporters."

It was left to these reporters to complete the story. The story was of a helicopter owned by Millipore Corporation ferrying three executives, including the company’s CEO, from their Waters Chromatography Division in Milford to their Bedford headquarters.

The helicopter collided with a Cessna piloted by Holliston pharmacist Stephen Porter, who had just left Hopedale airport with a passenger on a sightseeing trip.

The aircrafts collided at 11:30 a.m. at an altitude of approximately 2000 feet. The body of the helicopter landed on Robin Hill Road, while its rotor fell into a swimming pool on Prospect Street, next door to a nursery school. The three executives (Millipore president John Mulvany, 47; vice president Adrian Reti, 48 and researcher Vincent Mastricola, 33) and their pilot (Robert Girouard, 49) were killed. (The names and ages of the victims were taken from this New York Times article.)

Porter and his passenger, Arthur Deskos, were able to walk away from the plane, which made an emergency landing in a marsh off Lowland Street.

The brief of the accident filed by the National Transportation Safety Board indicated the following:

"The Bell 206L and a Cessna 172 collided at 2,000 feet over Holliston, Ma. Both aircraft were operating under visual flight rule with no flight plan filed or communications established with Air Traffic Control. According to witnesses, the Bell was traveling in a north-northeasterly direction and the Cessna was on a northeasterly heading. The Cessna pilot stated he was in the process of initiating a right turn when the collision occurred and that he never saw the helicopter nor any other traffic prior to impact. The Cessna had departed Hopedale airport approximately five minutes prior to the accident. Inspection revealed rotor blade slash marks in the Cessna’s lower left engine cowling. The helicopter descended uncontrolled to terrain impact after the collision and the Cessna was force landed in a field."

HOLLISTON FIRM TO RECEIVE AWARD

Colantonio Inc., a general contracting firm located at 16 Everett Street in Holliston, has been chosen to receive a Project Achievement Award at the 17^th Annual Awards Luncheon of the New England Chapter of the Construction Management Association of America. The presentation will be made on April 20 at the Radisson Hotel in Boston.

Colantonio Inc. is being recognized for its work on Framingham State University's D. Justin McCarthy College Center, a six-year, seven-phase project. Holliston resident and former MetroWest Chamber of Commerce President Fran Colantonio heads the company, which will be hosting the June 8 Business after Hours gathering for the Chamber.

Colantonio was recently named a member of the Holliston Economic Development Committee, which was established to help attract new businesses to town while retaining existing members of the business community.

WHO AM I NO. 18

Like the Plastics Industry

And Appleseed named John.

I left my town of Foster Grant,

And pink birds on the lawn.

In Holliston, I’m called The Babe,

But that’s not such a feat

As following the Pats for years,

Then giving up my seat.

Who Am I? I am Steve McCumber.

SALLEY TAKES OPENING WEEK HONORS

Charming and chiseled, The Hood’s Brian Salley has been named the Holliston Senior Softball Player of the Week by Holliston Patch.

Salley, an outfielder by trade, performed flawlessly in an emergency start at third base for The Hood in its season opening 10-1 win over the Holliston Lions Club. Salley was also 3-for-4 at the plate, including a bases-loaded double that cleared the sacks and would have been a home run for a player of normal base running ability.

The Hood will square off next Sunday against the Kampersal Softball Squad, which they defeated 5-1 in their sole encounter last year.

This weeks results:

Kampersal 4, Long Distance Tire 2

Braggville 17, Downtown 5

Jasper Rock 30, Queens 1

Dalton Road 11, South 9

Casey’s East 3, DYR 1

Brentwood 9, Mudville 5

The Hood 10, Lions 1

Division A Standings through 10 Apr

Position

Team

Won

Lost

Tied

Pct

Runs
For

Runs
Against

Opp
Wins

1

Casey's East

1

0

0

1.000

3

1

0

2

The Hood

1

0

0

1.000

10

1

0

3

Kampersal

1

0

0

1.000

4

2

0

4

Braggville

1

0

0

1.000

17

5

0

5

Dalton Road

1

0

0

1.000

11

9

0

6

Long Distance

0

1

0

0.000

2

4

0

7

South

0

1

0

0.000

9

11

0

Division B Standings through 10 Apr

Position

Team

Won

Lost

Tied

Pct

Runs
For

Runs
Against

Opp
Wins

1

Jasper Rock

1

0

0

1.000

30

1

0

2

Brentwood

1

0

0

1.000

9

5

0

3

DYR

0

1

0

0.000

1

3

0

4

Mudville

0

1

0

0.000

5

9

0

5

Lions

0

1

0

0.000

1

10

0

6

Downtown

0

1

0

0.000

5

17

0

7

Queens

0

1

0

0.000

1

30

For more information, visit Holliston Senior Softball's website at http://hollistonseniorsoftball.com/index.php.