Lincoln resident dies in tractor accident

Lenore Travis

Oxbow Road resident Lenore Travis, who died unexpectedly late last month, was remembered for her agriculture-focused volunteer work and as a longtime member of the Shady Hill School community.

Travis died when the tractor she was driving overturned and trapped her underneath, according to the Massachusetts District Attorney’s office. The accident happened April 26 on town conservation land south of Route 2A and Minute Man National Historical Park east of Hanscom Drive, said Lincoln Police Chief Kevin Kennedy, adding that she was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The entire community of Lincoln has the Travis family in their thoughts,” Kennedy said. “This appears to have been a horrible accident which has left the town stunned and in mourning.”

Travis and her husband George, who is on the board of Codman Community Farms, owned many animals including cows and oxen, according to the Boston Globe. Lenore also volunteered for numerous organizations including Revels, the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence, Planned Parenthood, The Farm School, the Food Project, Save a Dog, and CCF, according to her funeral home obituary.

“She got her hands and boots dirty working with animals, both their own and those at Codman Farm and the Food Project,” said Peter von Mertens, who worked with Travis over the past three years on the board of the Food Project. “She was willing to do manual work to help others and because she simply enjoyed it. It was part of her generosity toward others. Her background made her a convincing fundraiser at the Food Project, where she was always a leader for the rest of us.”

Travis met her future husband during her earlier career at Tom Fields Associates producing rock and roll shows, when George was Bruce Springsteen’s longtime production manager, according to this article in Production, Lights and Staging News.

“What I most liked about Lenore was her strength of conviction and her courage to put her ideas into action,” von Mertens said. “Lenore had a wealth of practical experiences. She had dealt with the rough and hard-living roadies from George’s work to the effete intellectuals of Cambridge private schools and was able to manage both. And from her diverse experiences she had a strong sense of justice and a clear view of fairness towards those less advantaged than she.”

Travis had close ties to the Shady Hill School, where she was an alumna, the mother of three other alumni (Ben ’98, Mat ’98 and Kyra ’00), and a member of the Alumni Board and Board of Trustees. She was also CFO of Whirlygig Realty and Travis Resources, Inc., according to Mark Stanek, Shady Hill’s head of school.

“We are profoundly appreciative of all she contributed to our lives and community. Her passion, commitment, and generous spirit will be sorely missed. We express our sincere condolences to her family, classmates, and friends,” Stanek wrote in an April 28 letter to the Shady Hill community. In lieu of flowers, he invited people to make a donation in Travis’s memory to Revels, The Food Project or the Farm School.