Montgomery, NY - Lightning Strikes Two Women on a Golf Course, 1 Dies

Montgomery, NY - Lightning struck two women on a golf course in the Hudson Valley Friday afternoon, killing one and sending the other to the hospital.   

Authorities say 54-year-old Ellen Robbins, died Friday after being struck by lightning at the Lake Osiris Golf Club in the Orange County town of Montgomery. The woman she was golfing with, Marilyn McHugh, was injured by the same lightning strike and transported to Saint Lukes Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh.

The lightning initially struck a tree near the shelter, but then traveled through the tree, into the shelter, into Robbins' body and out of her body through her feet. McHugh, 59, who lives in the Shawangunk hamlet of Wallkill, was knocked unconscious by a "secondary strike" from being close to where the lightning impacted Robbins, police said.
Her son Joseph Robbins, who lives in the Boston area, said his mother was "paranoid about lightning."
Robbins is survived two sons and by her husband, Dr. Chester Robbins, her parents, two sisters and two nieces.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. today at the Woodstock Jewish Congregation. Burial will be in Woodstock Cemetery.