Girlfriend not surprised by Pizza Hut manager's heroics during Joplin tornado

JOPLIN, Missouri - Anybody who knew Christopher Lucas isn’t surprised that he gave his life to save employees and customers at the Joplin Pizza Hut where he was a manager.

Especially his girlfriend, Brooke Praytor.

“He just had a general care for everybody,” Brooke said. “It’s part of his connection to God.”

On Monday, Daniel Fluhart, one of Lucas’ employees, shared the story of how his manager saved multiple lives by holding onto the door of the freezer where they were joined by three other workers and 15 customers.

Lucas wrapped a bungee cable holding the freezer door shut around his arm, trying to keep it shut.

But “as soon as I saw the door slipped, I grabbed him,” Fluhart said. “And then, when everything blew away, he was gone, the door was gone, everything…”

Praytor, pregnant with Lucas’ third child, said he called her shortly before the tornado struck. Holding back tears, she recalled the last time she’d ever speak to him.

“I’m gonna bring you home a pizza, I love you with my whole heart,” she said he told her.

“I miss him so much,” she continued. “That phone call was the last I heard from him…him thinking of me and making sure I’m okay.”

Though it’s tough anytime you lose a loved one, Praytor vows she won’t give up.

“I just have to live for our little girl.”

Via Twitter on Friday - AMTdirect is making a donation in the name of NPC International employee, Christopher Lucas