A Peterborough father of three was killed in a single-car crash in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, earlier this month.
Robert Flagg III, 37, of Peterborough died after his car went off Route 495 on Jan. 18.
The crash is still under investigation, according to a press release issued by the Massachusetts State Police, but it appears Flagg veered off the roadway and struck the treeline. Flagg was ejected from his vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
“He had a great love for his family,” his mother, Wendy Flagg, said this week. “He was always there for us when we needed him.”
Allyssa Flagg of Dublin, his sister, said his family was the thing Flagg was the most passionate about. He had three daughters, Anastasia Elizabeth, Jadeyn and Piper.
“There are a lot of women in our family, and he believed we could do anything. Anything,” Allyssa Flagg said.
Flagg loved working on cars, and shared that passion with his daughters, Allyssa Flagg said.
“He wasn’t a mechanic by trade, but by hobby,” she said. “He worked on everybody’s car. If anyone needed help, he would drop everything and fix a car for someone.”
He would bring his daughters to his garage and show them how to change a tire, and he planned to build a car with them, Allyssa Flagg said.
Flagg worked for an excavation company and had been around heavy equipment almost his whole life.
“He did that before he could even walk, with our grandfather,” Allyssa Flagg said. “He could literally balance an excavator on an edge and teeter-totter back and forth. He could play with them – dance, really, he could dance with them. It was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Flagg loved music, particularly The Doors and The Grateful Dead, and could make a good time out of just driving around listening to music, Allyssa said.
“He was always laughing, always smiling. You could be in the worst mood, and he would cheer you right up. I miss him so much,” she said.
A celebration of life for Flagg will be held from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Feb. 9 at Bass Hall in the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, located at 19 Grove St. in Peterborough.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.