BY DARRELL HALEN

Dorothy Mohr liked having Michelle Lemieux working in Pelham High School’s front office during the first period of the school day.

“She was just so friendly, even early in the morning,” Mohr fondly recalled.

Michelle, a junior at the school, was known for her smile – one of the special qualities about her that her friends at school will miss.

Michelle died as the result of a two-vehicle collision on Saturday, March 10, one week before her 17th birthday.

The 1987 Pontiac GrandAm that Michelle was driving as it pulled out onto Mammoth Road from Mont Vernon
Drive collided with a Ford 350 pickup truck traveling north on Mammoth Road.

The accident occurred around 9:50 p.m.

Michelle, who had been traveling alone, was trapped and unconscious when rescue workers arrived. They used the Jaws of Life to extricate her from the car.

She was transported to Lowell General Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.

The following day, grieving students and parents gathered inside the school. They got drinks and pizza and shared memories of their friend, known to them as “Mich” or “Michi.” 

Posters memorializing their friend were placed at the entrance of the school. Four counselors were available for the teenagers.

Junior class officers had made green ribbons – Michelle was born on St. Patrick’s Day –that people pinned to their shirts and jackets.

At a prayer service at St. Patrick Church, Rev. Robert Guillemette encouraged Michelle’s friends to write down their stories of her.

She would want you to remember her joy and her laughter and best days, he said.

“Seventeen years old. Who deserves to die that young?” he said.

Guillemette encouraged the students to thank the local rescue workers who protect them and keep them safe, and to tell their loved ones at home that they love them.

The mourners, including Michelle’s parents, Don and Lori, and older sister, Nicole, lit candles and sang “Amazing Grace.”

“She was quiet,” Mohr said of Michelle outside of the church. “Teachers would tell you she was a pleasure to have in class. She was a hard worker.”

Following the service, a group of mourners – many of them teenage girls – gathered at the scene of the accident, while police officers guided traffic. Flowers, photos, messages, candles, a small cross and other items made up a makeshift memorial on the side of Mammoth Road.

“Mich – never forget you. Miss you always,” one note read.

“Miss you. You will never be forgotten,” read another.

Melanie Cooper and Jess Blake, both Pelham High students, fondly remembered their friend who they said loved to go shopping, hang out with her friends and talk on the phone.

“She was always smiling,” said Melanie, 16, who, like Jess, wore a green ribbon.

“She never had a bad day,” Jess said. “She always made everyone smile. If they were crying, she’d be the first to give them a hug and say ‘I love you.’ She always said the right thing at the right time.”

Jess remembered that Michelle once helped her deal with a bad relationship.

“She was always there for me no matter what,” she said.

According to police, the driver of the pickup truck is Timothy Lepine, 39, of Pelham, who was traveling with his wife, Sheryll. They were not injured.

Pelham Police Capt. Joseph Roark said Michelle was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. The car she was driving was 20 years old and lacked safety features that are in modern cars, he said.

Investigators are still conducting their investigation of the accident, he said. The two vehicles have been impounded and police are in the process of obtaining search warrants to conduct vehicle autopsies. They want to know if anything mechanically failed in either vehicle, he said.

Police also need to conduct some follow up interviews with the Lepines, Roark said.

“We need to package the investigation and come to some conclusions,” he said, later adding: “It’s very important that it’s thorough and the most accurate conclusions are drawn.”

From an initial review of their investigation, it appears Michelle “improperly yielded” at the intersection, Roark said.

Several factors could have contributed to the crash, he said. There was rain, it was dark, and there may have been some fog.

Motorists driving northbound on Mammoth Road encounter a slight curve and slight incline as they approach the road’s intersection with Mont Vernon Drive, he added.

“These all could have contributed, and will be looked at in the accident reconstruction,” he said.

Within the past two years, the state lowered the speed limit on that stretch of Mammoth Road from 40 mph to 35 mph, according to Roark.

“There’s well recognized issues that it’s a high a speed area with lots of cars entering,” he said.

Roark said that speed and alcohol do not appear to be factors.