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MIDDLETON, MASS. (WHDH) - People who knew the Massachusetts State Trooper killed in a collision with a wrong-way driver in Lynnfield Wednesday are remembering him as an engaging, witty, and career-driven man.
Kevin Trainor, 30, died while responding to a 9-1-1 call that reported a wrong-way driver was traveling north in the southbound lanes on Route 1 in Lynnfield at approximately 2 a.m., according to Massachusetts State Police.
In his Salem High School yearbook, Trainor wrote that his career goals were to become a “math teacher, a psychologist, or a CIA agent.”
In a statement, one of his former high school teachers Lisa Mansfield wrote, “Kevin had a quick sense of humor and his classmates knew him for that. He was always present, always engaged…He could light up a room.”
As Trainor forged his path forward, he began his professional career as a Corrections Officer at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Middleton. He spent 18 months working in the housing division.
“He was a model correction officer from the time he came out of the academy. He was reliable, dedicated to his job, professional,” said Essex County Correctional Facility Captain Louis Potvin.
“He had the nickname ‘blood hound.’ He was looking for contraband constantly. He was looking in order to keep the environment and the housing units, to keep everybody safe,” said Essex County Correctional Facility Special Sheriff William Gerke.
Potvin and Gerke said it was at the facility that Trainor met his fiancée. She no longer works at the jail, but her brother does. Despite his important work, Trainor’s former co-workers said they knew his future lied somewhere else.
“His number one goal in life was to become a Massachusetts State Police trooper, so he came in here with aspirations to move along,” Gerke said.
He realized that dream in 2023.
“Kevin was into being a cop and that’s what he wanted to do,” said Potvin. “It was like his life dream to do that, it was great to see. That’s what everybody said, he was born to do this stuff.”
Trainor’s fiancée called the jail’s command staff to tell them Trainor had been hit in a head-on crash. The flag at the facility is now at half-staff.
“He was really revered by all the staff,” Gerke said. “He was well respected, he was dedicated, he was energetic. He was motivated. He left a legacy when he moved on to the state police.”
A wellness counsel was present at the facility Wednesday to support those who knew Trainor.
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