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Family, friends gather at funeral for UGA staff member killed in car crash

Chandler LeCroy’s funeral was held in her hometown in northeast Georgia, in Toccoa. Tears filled the funeral at the church -- inside and outside.

TOCCOA, Ga. — Family and friends gathered Wednesday to remember the life of a University of Georgia staff member killed in a crash this past weekend in Athens.

Those who knew and loved Chandler LeCroy best are still hoping for answers about what caused her to wreck the vehicle she was driving. The single-car collision also killed one of her three passengers, UGA football offensive lineman Devin Willock.

LeCroy’s funeral was held in her hometown in northeast Georgia, in Toccoa. Tears filled her church, First Baptist Church.

During the funeral, LeCroy's pastor, David Ritcey, called Chandler a bright light in the lives of all who knew her.

"She knew she was blessed and did her best to be a blessing to everyone that she came in contact with, and she was that blessing, it’s obvious, today, with this turnout," Ritcey said.

LeCroy, 24, was a recruiting analyst for the University of Georgia athletic program, and worked closely with UGA football coach Kirby Smart and the team members.

She and Willock were killed early Sunday morning just hours after they took part in the parade, and in the ceremonies at Sanford Stadium, celebrating the Bulldogs' second national championship in a row.

Wednesday, Coach Smart and the team rode from Athens to Toccoa together in buses to mourn, along with hundreds of others who knew LeCroy from her work at UGA, and at the church where she grew up.

Friends spoke of LeCroy as a go-getter, who saw a problem and jumped in to fix it. 

“You give me 10 Chandler LeCroys and we’ll go conquer the world," her youth pastor, Brett Sanders said. "We now have the unenviable task of learning how to do life without Chandler."

Two of her co-workers at UGA, Logen Reed and Angela Fitzpatrick, said Chandler simply made life better.

“We hope that she can look around the church today and just see how many lives that she touched and the impact that she made on this earth," Kirkpatrick said. “And we know she would want us to have a big party filled with dancing and singing at the top of your lungs, and, of course, yelling 'Go Dawgs', and barking at anybody that didn’t root for the Dawgs.”

“She will forever be missed and in our hearts," Reed said. "We hope that we can carry your light on, Chan," Reed said. 

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