Forrest County Agricultural High School in tiny Brooklyn, Mississippi, is the only independently functioning agricultural high school in the state.
And on September 24th, the community experienced both great love and great loss.
A.J. Nichols-Walters was the principals long time secretary, and was always at all the extra curricular activities, from sporting events to the drama class plays.
And she was battling cancer…..and she was losing that battle.
On the 24th, the day of the schools homecoming….she passed away surrounded by her family, including her husband of 25 years, Sean, and her two daughters, Elisabeth and Brittany, who is a senior at the school.
She was but 44.
Recalled Sean, "She realized that she may not be able to make it out here. She made me promise her that I was going to come out here with Brittany because she didn't want to ruin her day, her homecoming day. She said that's something she'll remember for the rest of her life."
Brittany had no heart for anything but her mom whilst she was undergoing treatment, but at A.J.’s insistence, she had her friends, fellow moms, help Brittany find a gown, get her hair and makeup done, and the like.
Said her friend Tyra Willamor Idom, "We decided to do everything we could to get AJ home and on that field for homecoming, to watch and cheer for her baby one last time."
She tried to hold on, but, alas….
But a promise is a promise, even in and especially in grief…. and Brittany assured her mom that she and her distraught father would be there, to honour her.
The school wanted to also honour her, and asked father and daughter if they wouldn’t mind walking to the center of the field so everyone could send them love, prayers and good vibrations.
And so they did.
Soon after, Senior Nyla Covington was chosen to be the Homecoming Queen by the student body, and the class she showed clearly explains the choice.
Literally seconds after she was chosen and the tiara was placed on her head, she quietly asked a question to FCAHS Superintendent Donna Boone.
Said Donna, “I never know until it is announced on the field who has been chosen as homecoming queen. As we presented Nyla with her crown and flowers, she told us she had a question for us. The rest is history.”
Nyla then walked straight towards Brittany.
Said Brittany, "All I could think about was my mom and how she wanted to be here, and then the next thing I know, Nyla walked towards me, and she hugged me. I just didn't really think anything of it, and then she started to take off her crown."
She at first refused it.
Said Nyla, "I told her it belonged to her, and then she was, like, backing away. I was like, 'No, come here, get it, you're your mom's queen.' I wanted her to know that. And then I hugged her.
I just felt like it was something that was put on my heart.
It was really just for her, to bring up her day a little bit, and she'd rather have her mom than a crown... but the point was, I was telling her that she was her mom's queen and I was just letting her know that she was loved by many and especially me."
It was an emotional day for the entire community.
Said Tyra, "It was like everything we wanted but more. The community rallied to get Brittany there even though her mother died hours before. It was actually her mother’s last words before she passed.
A.J.'s last wish was to cheer for her daughter on that field."
The Girl in Blue is the True Epitome of what a Queen Truly Is!
She was crowned Homecoming Queen By her Senior class....but took the crown off her head and placed it on the Girl in Pink (escorted by her Daddy) who lost her Mama to Cancer the Morning of Homecoming! It showed Marvelous Grace, Humbleness, Friendship, Beauty & Love!!! Way To Go Sweet Girl.....we could all take a lesson in “Loving Thy Neighbor” through you!
Said Brittany about her mom, “I feel like this is her way of still touching people, cause that’s what she lived her whole life around was trying to help and touch people and this is her way of still doing it.
Said Principal Will Wheat, “We hope that Nyla’s selfless act will be a light for the rest of society.
We’re so very proud of her and her giving nature.”
Said Sean, “Obviously, she has great parents that raised her well, and that’s hard to find sometimes nowadays, and that speaks a lot to them, too.”
Acts of love and beauty, of selflessness and class and grace and gratitude, are all afoot in small town Mississippi.
With a mother's deepest appreciation.