Family and friends are trying to come to grips with what happened inside the Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. Tunnel Friday morning when a manhole cover flew up into the air and into the front windshield of a woman's car, killing her.
Caitlin Clavette, 35, was on her way to Grover Elementary in Milton where she worked Friday morning when the accident happened.
"She was a good teammate," said a friend, Sherman Roberts.
Grief counselors were at the elementary school Saturday, giving parents guidance on how to tell Clavette's young students what happened.
"She was always happy. Always happy. Loved life," said Jess Wilfert, a friend.
Her recent love was triathlons. Roberts was training with her on the Wheel Works multi-sport team. Clavette was also passionate about her job as an elementary art teacher.
"She loved the kids, she called them her little rascals and they would show up and do this and that and tell a little story about them and you could tell she was really attached to the kids and they were very attached to her," Roberts said.
Friends are still in shock about the freak accident and aren't ready to believe it.
"It still hasn't soaked in. A little bit but. I can still hear her laughing. She had one of those laughs you could bottle it up and sell it on the street and make money. It was so awesome," Wilfert said.
"We are all crushed by it, but at the same time we are all celebrating her life," Roberts said.
State police said they are working with highway officials to determine how that manhole cover went airborne. They are looking through traffic video camera footage as part of the investigation.
