My daughter, Megan Brooke Hollingsworth, was 19
years and enrolled in her fourth semester of community
college to become a nurse. She was talented and
beautiful. Her voice was angelic and she was honing
her song writing skills. She had a wonderful young man
as her boyfriend. Each was getting their education. He
lived in Louisiana in the same town as all of our
extended family. We’d moved away from there prior to
her freshman year in high school to the city of
McKinney in Texas.
On March 15, 2011, she drove from McKinney towards
that small Louisiana town to see her boyfriend, soul
sister, and grandparents. It was a beautiful Tuesday
during spring break. About 1 and ½ hours from her
destination, an erratic driver crossed the line and hit
her head on at 70 mph. She and the driver were both
dead on impact according to the report. Traffic closed
for hours on the state highway and a reporter went to
the scene.
At that point, it was disclosed that he had a pain pump
with him and a few pills in his pocket. He was a retired
educator in his early 50’s with back problems and
known to have a pain pill prescription issue according
to the rumors of that area. A driver passed him earlier
than the accident and turned around to drive him off the
road before he hurt someone but he didn’t manage to
do so. He was right behind the accident and gave a
statement.
All of this occurred at approximately 1:15 pm, and none
of us knew of it. My parents began calling to check on
her whereabouts after she was a few hours late…about
5:00pm. Eventually, with phone calls to state police, we
were given the devastating news.
There are snippets of information which we’ve been
given via the news of that area. She had been seen at
the last small town stoplight, hair blowing in the wind,
with music playing, windows down. That is how she
loved to travel☺ The reporter contacted me on FB
messaging later that month in 2011, and I didn’t see the
message until a few months ago in 2014. She has given
me information about the respect with which the
emergency response crew treated Megan’s body.
Her funeral was huge because everybody is famous in a
small town and we buried her in that little Louisiana
town where she’d spent the first 14 years of her life,
and where her boyfriend and soul sister still lived. We
were given a recording of her singing a few songs and
we played them in the funeral. One of those was
Waiting on An Angel. Oh, that was very tough to hear
when I was given it…..It was like she was somehow
aware…. Also, one of the songs which she’d written
was about stars….She loved the stars. We played that
too.
Her boyfriend proposed to her during his part of the
funeral and put a coke tab on her fingers for a ring. She
loved his “coke kisses”. The two of them were
supposed to be going to the rodeo in Houston, Texas the
night of her funeral. It was their Valentine gift from the
month before.
The night before her funeral was the wedding of a
childhood friend in the church where the funeral was
now scheduled for the next day. She was to be part of
that wedding.
A few months after the accident, I grew tired of waiting
to know about the driver so I called the police from that
part of Texas. The driver’s toxicology report indicated
that there were 6 different drugs in his body. The type
of drugs which were powerful enough on their own to
alter one’s driving ability. I don’t know why the police
detectives didn’t automatically tell us this information
when it became available.
A few years later, a high school classmate shared a
music video that Megan had starred in for one of the
classmate’s projects. These are such gifts.
Our family has been shattered because only one year
prior to her death, her father and I ended our 26 year
marriage. We were not even close to all being
recovered.
Her brother honored her by naming my grandson
Brooks. Her boyfriend’s sister named her little girl
Emma Brook. Her Facebook page is still up and
occasionally friends and family still post. Also, she still
had a MySpace page….some of the music I chose for
her funeral and viewing were on her playlist. And, I
chose the music without ever knowing it was her
playlist.
We chose to honor her at the cemetery with a unique
and personalized gravestone. It is beautiful and marks
her still the unique beauty we all remember.
years and enrolled in her fourth semester of community
college to become a nurse. She was talented and
beautiful. Her voice was angelic and she was honing
her song writing skills. She had a wonderful young man
as her boyfriend. Each was getting their education. He
lived in Louisiana in the same town as all of our
extended family. We’d moved away from there prior to
her freshman year in high school to the city of
McKinney in Texas.
On March 15, 2011, she drove from McKinney towards
that small Louisiana town to see her boyfriend, soul
sister, and grandparents. It was a beautiful Tuesday
during spring break. About 1 and ½ hours from her
destination, an erratic driver crossed the line and hit
her head on at 70 mph. She and the driver were both
dead on impact according to the report. Traffic closed
for hours on the state highway and a reporter went to
the scene.
At that point, it was disclosed that he had a pain pump
with him and a few pills in his pocket. He was a retired
educator in his early 50’s with back problems and
known to have a pain pill prescription issue according
to the rumors of that area. A driver passed him earlier
than the accident and turned around to drive him off the
road before he hurt someone but he didn’t manage to
do so. He was right behind the accident and gave a
statement.
All of this occurred at approximately 1:15 pm, and none
of us knew of it. My parents began calling to check on
her whereabouts after she was a few hours late…about
5:00pm. Eventually, with phone calls to state police, we
were given the devastating news.
There are snippets of information which we’ve been
given via the news of that area. She had been seen at
the last small town stoplight, hair blowing in the wind,
with music playing, windows down. That is how she
loved to travel☺ The reporter contacted me on FB
messaging later that month in 2011, and I didn’t see the
message until a few months ago in 2014. She has given
me information about the respect with which the
emergency response crew treated Megan’s body.
Her funeral was huge because everybody is famous in a
small town and we buried her in that little Louisiana
town where she’d spent the first 14 years of her life,
and where her boyfriend and soul sister still lived. We
were given a recording of her singing a few songs and
we played them in the funeral. One of those was
Waiting on An Angel. Oh, that was very tough to hear
when I was given it…..It was like she was somehow
aware…. Also, one of the songs which she’d written
was about stars….She loved the stars. We played that
too.
Her boyfriend proposed to her during his part of the
funeral and put a coke tab on her fingers for a ring. She
loved his “coke kisses”. The two of them were
supposed to be going to the rodeo in Houston, Texas the
night of her funeral. It was their Valentine gift from the
month before.
The night before her funeral was the wedding of a
childhood friend in the church where the funeral was
now scheduled for the next day. She was to be part of
that wedding.
A few months after the accident, I grew tired of waiting
to know about the driver so I called the police from that
part of Texas. The driver’s toxicology report indicated
that there were 6 different drugs in his body. The type
of drugs which were powerful enough on their own to
alter one’s driving ability. I don’t know why the police
detectives didn’t automatically tell us this information
when it became available.
A few years later, a high school classmate shared a
music video that Megan had starred in for one of the
classmate’s projects. These are such gifts.
Our family has been shattered because only one year
prior to her death, her father and I ended our 26 year
marriage. We were not even close to all being
recovered.
Her brother honored her by naming my grandson
Brooks. Her boyfriend’s sister named her little girl
Emma Brook. Her Facebook page is still up and
occasionally friends and family still post. Also, she still
had a MySpace page….some of the music I chose for
her funeral and viewing were on her playlist. And, I
chose the music without ever knowing it was her
playlist.
We chose to honor her at the cemetery with a unique
and personalized gravestone. It is beautiful and marks
her still the unique beauty we all remember.