OXFORD – A former deputy sheriff and Norway police officer was killed early Thursday morning when his car was struck by another on Route 26.
Donald F. Guilford Sr., 78, of Fore Street in Oxford turned left from the southern end of Fore Street onto Route 26 and was struck by Sharon McCollett, 52, of Gardiner, who was heading north, Maine State Trooper Lucas Hare said.
Hare said Guilford died at the scene.
Sharon Martel, 59, also of Oxford, was a passenger in Guilford’s 2002 Buick. She was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston by medical helicopter. She was listed in critical condition late Thursday night, a nursing supervisor said.
McCollett was taken to Stephens Memorial Hospital in Norway, where Hare said she was listed in stable condition Thursday night.
Hare said Guilford was on his way to work as a safety flagger at a construction site, and he believes Martel was also because there were two orange safety vests in the car and two construction hard hats.
He said the cause of the 5:19 a.m. accident is under investigation. Paris Police Cpl. Michael Daily and Maine State Police Sgt. Richard McAlister are doing the accident reconstruction.
The crash closed Route 26 for nearly five hours.
Both vehicles were totaled.
Guilford was a retired policeman, having worked as an Oxford County deputy under Sheriffs W. Stanley Haskell and Alton Howe from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, former department administrator Roland Beaudoin said.
Guilford was also an officer with the Norway Police Department in the 1970s and 1980s, following in the footsteps of his father, Adelbert “Dellie” Guilford, who was the town’s first full-time police officer and served as chief during his 19 years with the department.
Oxford County Sheriff Skip Herrick said Thursday that the younger Guilford was well-known for his love for and service to youths, both as a police officer and a ball team coach.
“He was so good with teenagers. He’d see a group of rowdy kids of Main Street and jump right in the middle of them, and they’d listen.
“You talk about community policing, he was doing that many years ago,” Herrick said.
Staff Writer Mary Delamater contributed to this article.
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