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FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP - Former Mayor and longtime Committeeman Kennard Hildreth Jr. was killed late Wednesday morning in a tractor-trailer accident on Route 49 in Stow Creek Township.

Police said Hildreth was heading west in a pickup truck shortly before 11 a.m. when an eastbound tractor-trailer hauling frozen ground beef failed to negotiate a curve and toppled over onto Hildreth's vehicle.

Hildreth, 67, who for the past eight years worked as roads supervisor for Hopewell Township, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hopewell Township Mayor Bruce Hankins said Wednesday that residents of the small farming community for which Hildreth worked were stunned at the news of his death.

"Everyone in the township is shocked," said Hankins, who added that municipal employees were sent home after hearing about the accident. "Of course, we're a small community, and we all know Ken and his wife. We're all just … 'shocked' is the word."

Hildreth reportedly was en route to Farm-Rite Inc., an agricultural equipment and supply store on Old Cohansey Road in Stow Creek Township, located about a half-mile away from the scene of the crash.

According to Hankins, Hildreth was riding with 17-year-old Devon Turner, a summer public works employee for the township.

Turner was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden for treatment to his injuries, which police described as serious lacerations to his back and neck, and Hankins said Turner's family expects him to be discharged as early as today.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, whom police identified as Joseph Singh, 43, of Georgia, was taken to South Jersey Healthcare-Regional Medical Center and released.

The highway was closed for about seven hours as State Police investigated the crash. A preliminary report said evidence indicates Singh was driving the tractor-trailer too fast as he approached the curve.

State Police Sgt. Gary Catts, stationed at the Bridgeton Barracks, said Wednesday night that the accident was still under investigation and that no tickets had yet been issued.

Hildreth, a married father of two, worked as a farmer for most of his life, growing crops such as squash, melons and asparagus on his 195-acre Meadow Bend Farm, located on Husted Bateman Road in the Kill Pig Hole section of Fairfield Township.

Township resident Cindy Zirkle, a longtime family friend, said Wednesday evening that Hildreth's death was a tragedy for the bayside township he served.

"Everybody in Fairfield knows Kenny Hildreth," she said. "Kenny was one of the first people I met when I moved here 30 years ago, and there was nobody who didn't love Kenny. He would do absolutely anything for anybody."

Zirkle described Hildreth as a true outdoorsman, a citizen farmer who typified the region's country lifestyle.

"Farming was his passion," Zirkle said. "His farm is preserved. He believed in agriculture, he believed in open spaces."

His son, Ken Hildreth III, 46, said Wednesday that his father approached public service with the goal of keeping Fairfield Township's rural lifestyle intact.

"He remembered everyone's birthday," Hildreth's son said. "He just liked to make everyone feel special."

Hildreth, who was known locally for the quality of the cantaloupes he grew, inherited his farm from his own father, who moved to Fairfield Township in 1945. In addition to growing vegetables, Hildreth kept horses on his property, and liked to ride them bareback with only a saddle blanket.

Hildreth also served as a Little League coach for 12 years and volunteered for the local fire company and rescue squad.

In his approximately 10 years of service on the Township Committee, Hildreth served a single term as mayor in the late 1980s. He also held a seat on the school board in the 1960s and worked on the township's planning board for a decade.

Hildreth is survived by his wife, Brenda, whom he met while attending Pfeiffer College in Misenheimer, N.C.; and two sons, Ken Hildreth III and Bruce Hildreth.

According to family members, the Padgett Funeral Home will be handling arrangements.

E-mail John Martins:

JMartins@pressofac.com

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