Former Miss North Carolina Carrie Everett remembered for her 'love and light' before public memorial

 

Friends, family, and the pageant world are honoring the life of 2024 Miss North Carolina Carrie Everett this weekend.

Everett died of stomach cancer at the age of 22 on Easter Sunday. She was diagnosed with a highly aggressive form of the disease last July.

Memorial services for Everett will be held Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at World Victory Church in Greensboro. Her family says all are welcome to celebrate her life and legacy.

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.

“Carrie practically went to school debt free because of Miss North Carolina,” said Young. “So that was her biggest, biggest goal was making sure girls like her who come from immigrant parents, girls like her who are traveling across the country, who may not have the funds to get a college education, can be their biggest, boldest, fullest self in the community.”

Perhaps Everett’s greatest legacy: a life lived serving others.

“That’s the example of who we all should be,” said Young. “We get this finite amount of time to leave an impact. What does it matter if you just live a life only for yourself and then you pass away. That wasn't Carrie's legacy.”

Young traveled back and forth to visit her friend in Seattle over the last few months of Everett’s time on Earth until her friend’s final moments Easter Weekend.

Young says Everett was planning to write a book about her life titled The Crown, Cancer and the Cure, but sadly that is a story others will never see.

Carrie was born in the United States, but always yearned to return to Liberia, where her family is from, to meet her grandfather and extended family. In the case of her passing, her desire was to be buried in Liberia close to family. After her memorial services, her parents will be flying with her to Liberia to grant her desire.

The WRAL Documentary unit explored the alarming trend of cancer striking younger adults in North Carolina and across the nation in "Diagnosis: Young, The New Face of Cancer in NC."