Toccoa Area Surgeon Killed in Tennessee Plane Crash

Dr. Lionel Meadows, a Toccoa-Stephens County resident and double board-certified cosmetic surgeon, has been identified as the pilot who died in a plane crash in the Tennessee mountains on Sunday evening. Meadows had been visiting family in Indiana and was flying back to the Jackson County airport when his plane encountered a storm near Chattanooga. Rescue workers using a drone found the plane and debris field on Monday after local residents found part of the plane’s wing on a roadside. Meadows lived in Stephens County with his wife, Kathryn, and they founded the Surgical Hope Foundation in 2010, which helps fulfill medical needs for those without adequate coverage and offers scholarships to local students planning on entering the medical field. The foundation awarded nine students with a $1,000 scholarship in 2021.