Starting out as Cumberland Street in Westbrook, River Road in Windham is known well to local commuters trying to avoid Route 302.

The bucolic byway rolls along green hills peppered with cows and farms and pauses to catch its breath with a stoplight at the intersection of Route 202.

Driving toward North Windham, the road shakes off all its curves, becoming sleek and mean after crossing the Pleasant River. River Road is a serious river of traffic morning, noon and night. It’s a fast road, and known to be dangerous with its many intersecting driveways.

It was during the fast, brutal segment near the Park Road intersection in early December last year that a car fatally struck Winfred Strout, 89, of Windham, as he dropped off the day’s earnings from selling Christmas trees for the local Kiwanis club.

Strout was crossing River Road to enter a waiting car driven by his wife Barbara when the tragedy occurred. Glenn Libby, the friend and fellow Kiwanis who Strout had just handed the charity money over to, heard everything.

“I was horrified, and of course his wife was right there and saw it,” Libby said last year.

A year later, Libby said the memory still troubles him.

Libby remembers Win Strout as an enthusiast volunteer in Kiwanis, church and the Masons. Strout served as Lt. Governor for the local Kiwanis division, which covered clubs from Sanford to Brunswick, and a deacon at Windham Hill United Church of Christ.

“We miss that guy,” Libby added while clutching a program from Win’s funeral service. The front of the program showed a picture of Win smiling while sitting in a fishing boat on a bright day.

Strout worked as a foreman at The Portland Company and Portland Engineering for 38 years, taught vocational technology to high school students in Augusta and Portland, and sat on various boards and committees in Windham, including the town council.

“He was what I call an old-time New Englander. He didn’t say a lot, but when he did, it was worth listening to,” said Phil Moody, who knew Strout from church and Kiwanis.

Strout’s best friend Stanley Sampson of Windham first met Win while the two attended South Portland High School in the 1930s. Sampson, also a Kiwanian, said he played cribbage with Win every Thursday night.

Glenn Libby said it was more often than that, adding that Win and Stan would pull out the cribbage board at any spare moment they could find.

“He was a real good friend, and committed to whatever we did.” Sampson said. “He was well liked; you didn’t hear anyone speak ill of him.”

A representative from Strout’s family said the anniversary of the event has been hard for them and they did not wish speak on the subject.

River Road’s posted speed limit is, at different places, between 35 and 45 miles per hour. Motorists rarely follow this, Libby said.

Windham Town Manager said the town has formally requested that the Maine Department of Transportation and the Maine State Police lower River Road’s speed limit. The request is still being processed, said Plante.

“It has been a concern,” Plante said. The last time the town heard from MDOT on the subject was a month ago, according to Plante.

Plante said River Road is dark, relatively narrow, and has no shoulders.

“It really is a pretty dangerous road,” said Plante.

RiverRoad1, RiverRoad2, RiverRoad3: Glenn Libby stands in front of his house on River Road where his friend Win Strout was fatally hit by a car one year ago.RiverRoad1, RiverRoad2, RiverRoad3: Glenn Libby stands in front of his house on River Road where his friend Win Strout was fatally hit by a car one year ago. RiverRoad1, RiverRoad2, RiverRoad3: Glenn Libby stands in front of his house on River Road where his friend Win Strout was fatally hit by a car one year ago.