NY couple, visiting MC Week, killed in Gilford crash

GILFORD — A New York state couple visiting the state for Motorcycle Week, died as result of injuries they received when their motorcycle crashed on Lakeshore Road (Route 11) early Friday evening, police report.

Gilford police said no other vehicles were involved in the accident which occurred at about 6:45 p.m. at a bend in the highway in front of the Belknap Point Motel.

Both the operator and the passenger were rushed to Lakes Region General Hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said.

On Monday afternoon police had not released the names of the victims, pending the notification of the couple’s immediate family. However, an article posted on the news website IndyEastEnd.com on Long Island in New York identified the couple as George Worthington Jr., 61, and his wife, Mary Worthington.

Mark Dunleavy, the chief of the Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Corps on Long Island, told the online news service that George Worthington died Friday, and that Mary Worthington died Saturday at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon.

Their motorcycle went off the roadway and into a grassy area near an embankment, Dunleavy said. “… there seems to be a malfunction in the motorcycle,” he was quoted as saying.

Many motorists who came upon the accident in the minutes after it happened stopped to offer assistance, Gilford police said.

The couple had been riding with a group of friends and their son and daughter-in-law when the crash occurred. They were in the back of the pack and when their group realized they were no longer behind them, they turned around and came upon the wreckage, Dunleavy said.

The section of Route 11 near where the crash occurred was closed to traffic for several hours while members of the Gilford Police Department and the Belknap Regional Accident Investigation Team conducted an on-scene investigation.

State Liquor Enforcement personnel assisted with traffic duties. Vehicles were detoured onto nearby Belknap Point Road until the scene was cleared and the on-scene investigation was finished.

It was the second fatal motorcycle accident in the state over the weekend. A Dracut, Massachusetts, man died when his motorcycle crashed in Pelham late Friday afternoon.

George Worthington was a longtime emergency medical service provider and an ex-chief with the Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Corps on the East End of Long Island, also known as The Hamptons. Mary Worthington worked for a medical practice, also on Long Island, IndyEastEnd.com reported.