FVSU gathers to remember student killed in car crash

The Fort Valley State University community gathered as a family Thursday to remember the life of one of its own.

Taylor Moore, a 21-year-old mass communications student, was killed Sept. 3 in a single-vehicle accident near the campus.

Students, faculty and staff, along with Moore’s family members and friends, filled the C.W. Pettigrew Center auditorium for a memorial service honoring her life. Moore, of Powder Springs, was a FVSU peer counselor, Miss Junior FVSU and a member of the Alpha Beta Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Moore, who aspired to work at CNN in Atlanta, was described at the memorial as an exemplary, ambitious and hardworking student who cared about the people around her and inspired others.

The nearly 90-minute memorial included numerous speakers, a song, poem, the reading of an affirmation, gifts, a candle lighting and ended with the release of multiple balloons outside of the center.

Classmate TeKia Raines described Taylor as her best friend who inspired her take up her torch and pass it on.

"Your vision has become my duty and that duty is to change this world," Raines said through tears.

Dominique Nichols of the Universal Light Christian Center in Macon said that Moore left behind a legacy of love.

Nichols urged the audience to take this time of loss to examine themselves.

“How are you living?” he asked. “Who are you? What difference are you making? How are you touching the lives of others?”

Jacqueline Caskey-James, student health and counseling services director, noted that Moore was the reigning “Queen of Peer Counselors” from 2012 until Thursday. Caskey-James then presented Moore’s tiara to her mother, Miriam Knight. She was also presented a plaque celebrating her daughter’s life and legacy.

“Taylor was a very special part of this university,” Caskey-James said. “We will always remember Taylor Moore.”

Knight and one daughter, Olivia Knight, also took a Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety oath that Moore had taken to watch out for others and to be the sober one. The family was also given a “Be the Sober One” T-shirt.

Two proclamations were also made in Moore’s honor. One was from the board of directors of her sorority that posthumously honored her for “exemplary leadership and dedication.”

The second was from the FVSU Alumni Association Inc. that inducted Moore posthumously into the association and proclaimed Thursday, Sept. 10, as a day to remember the accomplishments and contributions of Moore.

Knight, Taylor’s mother, began her remarks with, “Praise the Lord everybody,” and thanked those who came out to support her and her family.

She also encouraged those present to keep God first.

“Remember to keep him first because if it had not been for him you would not be sitting in these seats right now nor would I be standing here,” Knight said to the echoes of “amen” from the audience.

The day after her daughter died, Knight said she woke up and sent her a text message. She said she really didn’t know why she sent the text but she wanted to share it with the audience.

“Taylor, my darling, my sunshine, my princes, you were and always will be the love of my life,” Knight said. “People wonder if it’s true. Can you can really be in love with your children? I say, yes.”

Knight continued that she chose to remain single so that she could be the best mother Moore and her siblings could have, and she shared the heartbreak that she had already lost a son before her daughter’s death.

“Jesus has taken home two of my babies,” Knight said through tears. “I thank him and know that I carried a prince and a princess and he just wanted them back.

“You are my rib, my sweet baby girl. You rest in Heaven.”

To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559.

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 7:59 PM with the headline "FVSU gathers to remember student killed in car crash ."