Lufkin Police Release Name of IHOP Employee Killed by Lightning

This story really hits close to home for me. Last night my daughter and friends, as a tradition always go to IHOP after a Choir performance night. After Pop Show at LHS, the ritual continued. During their meal, they heard what they said sounded like a gunshot. They said if they hadn't seen the flash of light, that all they could have assumed it would have been.

What they heard was IHOP Employee, Meshell Foxworth, of Lufkin being hit by lightning in the parking lot. A Lufkin Police spokesman reported that lightning entered her upper torso and exited her feet. Eyewitness accounts say that she was holding an umbrella that acted like a lightning rod. A chunk of concrete was blown out of the parking lot in a space to the side of the business where she was hit. When I went to go pick up my girls I saw someone taking pictures in the parking lot and I drove by and looked myself, and I assumed that it was where the lightening hit and I was sad to find out I was correct.

Foxworth, 32, leaves behind a young son, and lots of friends and family. My prayers for peace go out to them all. Everyone at IHOP was visibly shaken when I went by there a little more than an hour after the incident. Her customers also expressed that she was a pleasure to have as a server and did a great job. She will be missed by many.