LEWISTON – A Lewiston man described as happy-go-lucky and who loved his family and the outdoors was killed in a snowmobile accident near Greenville on Friday night.

Michael D. Morrow, 47, of 18 Bellegarde Ave. in Lewiston, died after the snowmobile he was driving drifted off a trail in the Piscataquis County town of Shirley and hit a birch tree.

“It’s a tragedy,” said his uncle, former Lewiston city Councilor Norm Rousseau. “He was much too young. I’m still in shock.”

Morrow was driving the last snowmobile in a group of four heading northbound on ITS 85 toward Greenville when the accident happened, according to a news release from the Maine Warden Service. The group, which was staying in Greenville, had been out for a short ride to Abbot and was returning around 8:50 p.m. when Morrow’s sled drifted left off a straightaway section of the trail and hit a tree. Greenville Rescue pronounced him dead at the scene.

Morrow was employed at White Rock Distilleries, and Rousseau described him as always making time to help family and friends. He had been living in Sabattus until about nine months ago.

“He was a hard-working family man,” Rousseau said. “He liked golfing, fishing, swimming … when he had the chance, he liked being outdoors.”

“But what he loved most of all was spending time with his family,” he said.

Morrow leaves his wife, Linda, and two stepdaughters.

According to the Warden Service, neither alcohol nor speed appear to be factors in the accident. Morrow was wearing a helmet. The crash remains under investigation and a routine examination is expected to be conducted by the state Medical Examiner’s Office.

“It was just a freakish accident,” said Rousseau, who traveled to Greenville when he got word of the accident. “It’s just such a terrible loss.”

Another snowmobile accident early Saturday morning claimed the life of a 26-year-old Deer Isle man and injured a 19-year-old Surry woman.

The couple, James Douglass and Natasha Robbins, were with several friends at a bonfire on the north side of Parker Pond in Brooksville north of Deer Isle in Hancock County when they decided to go for a ride, according to the Warden Service. On the way back to the pond about 1:30 a.m., they hit a stand of maple trees.

Douglass, who was not wearing a helmet, was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor where he died at 7:55 a.m. Saturday. Robbins, who was wearing a helmet, was taken to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital. No information on her condition was available Saturday.