The father-daughter pair died in a car accident in Kentucky on July 26
NEED TO KNOW
- A family of three was involved in a car accident in Kentucky on July 26
- Hunter Lyons, 22, and his 1-year-old daughter Oakleigh Payne died, and Macey Lyons was treated for injuries at a local hospital
- The young father was remembered as someone who “enjoyed the outdoors,” while the toddler was described as being “funny and smart”
A woman is mourning the loss of her husband and their young daughter, who died days after the couple got married.
Hunter Lyons, 22, and his 1-year-old child Oakleigh Payne died in a car accident in Kentucky on July 26, leaving behind Macey Lyons, Kentucky State Police said in a news release.
Macey was flown to the University of Louisville Hospital to receive aid for her injuries after the crash, per police. Her mother, Leigh Ann Payne-Weisser, also confirmed the hospitalization in a Facebook post.
Leigh Ann added that the family of three was “on their way home from their honeymoon in Pigeon Forge” when the incident took place.
Kentucky State Police said Joseph Maynard, 48, was driving a Ford F-150 “when, for unknown reasons, he crossed the center line and struck” the vehicle the Lyons family was in. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Breckinridge County Coroner’s Office, police said.
Hunter and Macey wed on July 19, days before the tragedy took place, during a ceremony in Hawesville, according to their wedding page.
The young father was remembered in an online obituary as someone who “enjoyed the outdoors, hunting, riding horses, tractors and his 4-wheeler,” and who “often sang and played his guitar for church services.”
Oakleigh, meanwhile, who was born in February 2024, “was a very loved little girl,” the obituary stated.
“Her smile was like a ray of sunshine and shone through in her sassy personality. She enjoyed being outdoors, feeding apples to the horses and riding in the side-by-side,” the tribute continued. “She and her Daddy shared a love of eating. She was funny and smart and loved her baby doll.”
Loved ones will say goodbye to the father-daughter pair when they are buried at a cemetery in Custer on Saturday, Aug. 2. A silent auction will later take place on Aug. 11, to benefit Macey.
