PERU – Townspeople are mourning the deaths of two of their own after a head-on collision early Monday on Route 108 near Valley Road.

Maine State Trooper Jason Wing identified the deceased as 48-year-old Carl Grant, who was driving a 1998 Jeep Cherokee west on Route 108 toward Rumford, and 31-year-old Christine Sterry, who was driving a 1997 Ford Windstar minivan east. Sterry and Grant both lived in Peru, according to state police.

“Christine was a very likable person, very easy to talk to. She could start a conversation in a heartbeat, always outgoing,” said Denise Blackman of Blaisdell’s Variety. “She would come into the store almost every day, so when I heard about it, I said ‘no, I just saw her the other day.’ It really took everyone by surprise, it’s shocking really.”

Talk of the tragedy spread to the town’s selectmen’s meeting Monday night, according to Town Clerk Vera Parent. Sterry and Grant had several relatives in the community.

Charlene Wing works at Mrs. B’s, a local store, and said Sterry went to school with her daughter. Wing had heard about the accident but wasn’t aware that Sterry was killed until she was told at an eye doctor’s appointment.

“We’d just seen her Friday,” Wing said. “She was a good girl, my husband said. She was comical and a straight-shooter. She’d tell you what was on her mind.”

Sterry’s father, Dan Wing, is a SAD 21 board member.

David Gammon, a cousin by marriage, knew Grant for more than 30 years and says he’d always liked him.

“He was a real good guy; loved to hunt and loved to fish. I couldn’t believe it happened,” Gammon said. “It’s an awful thing.”

Gammon, who also knew Sterry, recalled her as being active and a “super softball player.”

“It’s a shock to lose two people from the town; I mean, it’s just a little town,” Gammon said. “Times are hard enough without having a tragedy like this happen.”

The wreck happened about 7:38 a.m. on a straightaway beyond a slight curve just east of Valley Road.

“The van crossed the centerline and the impact was directly head-on. We have no idea at this time why the van crossed the centerline,” Trooper Wing said. Neither driver was wearing a seat belt and both remained in their vehicles,” he said.

The speed limit in the area is 55 mph. The investigator said he didn’t know how fast either driver was traveling.

Route 108 was closed for more than five hours while the accident was reconstructed by Trooper Kyle Tilsley and debris was removed.

Canton firefighters rerouted traffic onto Route 140 in Canton to Canton Point Road and up to Route 2, while Peru firefighters rerouted traffic onto Route 2 at the four-corners intersection just south of the Mexico bridge over the Androscoggin River. Rumford and Mexico firefighters helped at the scene removing debris.

A Peru town garage crew was called to sand the crash site and was joined by a Maine Department of Transportation truck, which salted the road before it reopened at 12:45 p.m.

The demolished vehicles were each loaded onto tow trucks from Dixfield.