TAKEN TOO SOON

Cumberland family tries to pick up the pieces after losing John Merrifield – a loving husband, father and grandfather – in a motorcycle crash.

CUMBERLAND — Family members are struggling to come to grips with loss of their father and husband, John Merrifield, after his death in a motorcycle crash on Mendon Road Friday.

“This is probably the most tragic thing I think that could ever happen to anyone,” said Veronica Merrifield, his wife of 26 years.

Merrifield, 51, was traveling northbound on Mendon Road when his BMW motorcycle struck a fire hydrant and a utility pole shortly after 8 p.m. The Cumberland Police Department identified Merrifield as the victim of the single-vehicle crash on Monday, confirming that his injuries had been fatal.

Merrifield died at Rhode Island Hospital after being transported from the scene by ambulance.

“The investigation is ongoing,” police said in a statement.

Merrifield lived with his wife in the Valley View neighborhood, just north of the Woonsocket line.

Veronica Merrifield says her husband was coming home from dinner with a friend at Jackie’s Galaxy, a few miles

south. She said he’d been riding a motorcycle for years and had never been in a crash before.

She hadn’t seen a police report yet, but she knows speed wasn’t a factor in the crash because she spoke to a policeman who saw him drive by moments before the fatal collision.

“I do know that speed was not involved because the cop that was on duty in the parking lot doing his paperwork had seen him and verified that speed was not involved,” she said.

Merrifield was an experienced motorcycle rider who loved two-wheel travel. Her husband had a truck, but he only drove it in the winter.

Born in Pawtucket, Merrifield lived in Woonsocket for many years and earned a diploma at Woonsocket High School. He and Veronica have one child, a daughter, Samantha, and a grandson, Jaxson Lambert.

“This is just devastating for me. Especially since I just lost my dad in February, then my sister, two weeks later, on February 16.”

—Veronica Merrifield, whose 51-year-old husband, John Merrifield, recently died in a motorcycle accident

Merrifield was employed as a welder at Rolls Royce Naval Marine in Walpole, Mass. His wife says he was just about to celebrate his 15th anniversary with the company.

Veronica, whose father and sister died within two weeks of each other earlier this year, says that coping with the loss of her husband will be a tremendous challenge in the days and weeks ahead.

“Especially since I just lost my dad in February, then my sister, two weeks later, on February 16,” she said. “This is just devastating for me.”

Submitted photo Pictured from a recent camping trip to New Hampshire are, from left, Samantha Merrifield, the daughter of John Merrifield, right, and Veronica Merrifield, center, as well as and the family dog, Beamer; and grandson Jaxson Lambert. John Merrifield, 51, succumbed to injuries sustained Friday night in a motorcycle accident not far from his Cumberland home.

Joseph B. Nadeau photo Emergency crews and personnel responded to the scene of this motorcycle crash on Friday night, which claimed the life of John Merrifield, 51.