Monty Tech senior mourned

PRINCETON â€"  The Monty Tech community yesterday was mourning a senior killed in a car accident on Route 31 Wednesday afternoon.

Jacob T. Bratkon, 18, of 31 Lowell Ave., Holden, was driving a 2002 Ford Taurus station wagon south on Route 31 when he lost control of the car on a curve and it hit a tree, according to Timothy J. Connolly, spokesman for the Worcester district attorney’s office.

The teenager, who was alone in the car, was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was raining at the time.

Wednesday night, Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical High School Principal Nicholas DeSimone sent a message to students and parents notifying them of the accident.

Mr. DeSimone said Mr. Bratkon was a loved and respected student, and the entire school community is mourning his loss.

“There is overwhelming, genuine sorrow and reflection in the student body today,” Mr. DeSimone said yesterday morning. He said he believes that Mr. Bratkon was on his way home from school when the accident occurred. He said many students were talking about what a conscientious and mature driver Mr. Bratkon was.

Mr. Bratkon’s love was cars, according to Mr. DeSimone, and he was in the school’s auto body shop.

Mr. DeSimone said many of the 1,400 students from several towns knew and liked Mr. Bratkon.

“Boy, what a great kid,” Mr. DeSimone said. “He was such a positive presence.”

He said Mr. Bratkon was a huge Celtics fan, often wore Celtic T-shirts and tried to go to all their home games. “This kid was always smiling ear-to-ear, with a goofy, infectious laugh.”

Mr. Bratkon was a wonderful and skilled welder, according to Mr. DeSimone, and loved to teach other students how to weld. His auto body shop teacher, Dana Lecuyer, said Mr. Bratkon also excelled at painting.

“Jake would always take the time to help other students, or to encourage them,” Mr. DeSimone said. “He always had a positive word.”

Mr. Bratkon played basketball last year, and had traveled to the Dominican Republic for the past two summers on church missions. He worked at Harr Ford in Worcester, according to Mr. DeSimone.

Mr. DeSimone said his friends knew Mr. Bratkon loved to work on an early ’80s-vintage Mustang at home.

“Only he and his father worked on it,” Mr. DeSimone said.

On Facebook, a friend of Mr. Bratkon’s started a memorial page. It reads: “This is a group that is dedicated to a best friend that I lost today, he was a great kid and I miss him already. My thoughts and prayers are with your family Jake, you are in a better place now :(”

Another friend, Amy Putney, wrote in her tribute, “The class of 2012 will never be the same, even though we have a fairly large class we all one big family and were lucky to have you be apart in it, this is gona be a tough year but you’ll never be forgotten, and you’ll be there every step of the way with us, rest easy.”

“This kid was legitimately loved,” Mr. DeSimone said.