Public memorial service held for former Miss North Carolina Carrie Everett

Friends and family of former Miss North Carolina Carrie Everett,  who recently died of cancer, gathered for a memorial on Saturday in Greensboro to honor her life

Everett, 22, who was crowned Miss North Carolina in 2024, died of stomach cancer on Easter Sunday. She was diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of the disease last July.

"She let others cry on her shoulder, even when her body ached," said Rufina Everett, her older sister. "When she could barely move, she prayed for others."

The memorial service for Everett began at 3:30 p.m. at World Victory Church in Greensboro, and drew dozens of people, including people Everett met through the Miss North Carolina pageants.

"When I think of Carrie, the strength that it takes to walk an unpaved path, the strength of her beautiful voice not only in song, but the way she advocated for themselves, but together," said Karolyn Martin, another former Miss North Carolina.

Martin and other former & current Miss North Carolina pageant contestants perofmed a song at the service, and a representative from North Carolina Central University, where Everett went to school, presented a resolution to her family that formally recognized her as the first Miss North Carolina to attend an HBCU and the first Liberian-American to win the title.

Summer Carson, Miss Goldsboro and a friend of Everett's also spoke at the event. She said she was unable to attend her memorial service last month in Washington, but was looking forward to Saturday's service.

"Carrie laid down her life for the people around and showed the love of Christ in every possible form, even when it was not easy," Carson said.

Everett left a lasting mark not only in the pageant world but in the lives of everyone she met, including her close friend, McKayla Young.

“Something about Carrie...she just is love and light, “ said Young. “She’s the embodiment of God’s love.”

Young, who is Miss Orange County 2026, said the friendship she shared with Everett went far beyond titles and extended into faith, resilience and shared experience.

“That’s my favorite thing about her,” said Young. “She always went back to God, it didn't matter. While she was in the hospital bed, while she was fighting this, she would call me and say, ‘hey, I just want to pray with you for a couple minutes.’ And I'm like, ‘pray for me?'"

Even during her battle with cancer, friends say Everett never let her light dim and would routinely put others before herself.

“She was looking out for other people,” said Young.

Young says the crown became a pathway to opportunity for Everett, who wanted others to have the same chance she had.

Everett's family said they will fly to Liberia for her final services and lay her to rest on June 2.