CLAY, W.Va. — The Clay County community has stepped forward and paid for the funeral expenses of a nine-year-old girl who was killed in a car wreck last week.
Kadie Truman and her grandmother, Connie Brown, 53, died in the crash on state Route 16 Dec. 27. Kadie’s seven-year-old sister survived the wreck.
A community organized dinner Wednesday at the Lions Club in Clay was originally planned to help the family with Kadie’s funeral expenses but those were taken care of with donations before the dinner, organizer Sandra Samples said.
“It’s come from all the community, everyone has just joined in,” Samples said.
Proceeds from the dinner will now go toward paying for the expenses of Connie Brown’s funeral.
Samples doesn’t know the family personally but those who do have said Kadie was a special little girl.
“Everyone just says she was just the sweetest person. She always had a smile on her face. She just brightened everyone else’s day,” Samples said.
It’s been a difficult six months in Clay County with the devastating flood that occurred June 23 and last week’s deaths, including another crash on Route 16 that claimed the life of a well-known Clay County High School graduate. Samples said it’s times like these when how tight-knit the community is shines through.
“Clay County gets a bad rap a lot of times but we are good people here. We really are,” she said.