Hundreds turned out Saturday at the Ocean City Tabernacle for remember former Miss New Jersey Cara McCollum who died Feb. 22.
OCEAN CITY -- "It's not the years in your life, but the life in your years."
It was a phrase repeated over and over amid laughter and tears as the late Cara McCollum was remembered with tender stories from those who loved her at an Ocean City Tabernacle memorial service Saturday afternoon.
The former Miss New Jersey 2013 and South Jersey television news anchorwoman died last month from injuries sustained in a crash. She was just 24.
"She loved to make life easy for other people," said Sally Johnston, president of the Miss New Jersey Education Foundation, who traveled with McCollum across the state for appearances.
Noting all McCollum did during her short life, Josh Randle from the Miss America Organization, echoed Johnston's statements.
"All the while she never sought anything in return," Randle said. "A servant's heart. That was Cara McCollum."
He called McCollum, who participated in the 2014 Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, "an inspiration."
The Miss New Jersey Education Foundation organized the service to honor the memory of the Arkansas-born beauty who adopted the Garden State as her home and went on to win the pageant crown.
Cierra Kaler-Jones who was crowned Miss New Jersey 2014 by McCollum said the two developed a strong friendship.
"She became my guardian angel. She taught me to stop sweating the small stuff," Kaler-Jones recalled.
"We never expect these things to happen and I know that if Cara was here she would want us to celebrate and want us to laugh. Because that was how she was. She had this effortless charm and wit about her."
"I have never met anyone like her before and I never will. From Arkansas she brought something so different," she said, noting McCollum's Midwestern roots.
McCollum's lfe-long love of reading lead her to champion the Birthday Book Project which so far, under McCollum's efforts, has distributed more than 25,000 books to children to spur their interest in reading.
McCollum's boyfriend of two years, Keith Jones, recalled meeting her at a charity event -- a Red Cross fundraiser where McCollum was "in a red dress and a tiara." He didn't get to introduce himself that night, but he said they connected on social media and began the most special of romances.
Jones recalled McCollum's love for her family and her dreams for the future -- a best-selling children's book and a family with two children.
The time he shared with McCollum was "magical," he said. "Our happiness was unrivaled."
Jones, who paused to hold back tears at times, said the pair constantly wrote each other letters.
He read McCollum's last letter to him and read a last one to her.
Jones recalled the first time McCollum told him she loved him and recounted many of their adventures together. He told her how lucky he was that she had picked him and called her his "hero."
"Thank you for the two of the best years of my life ... may God bless you Cara."
"Cara is truly the type of person you don't get to meet often in your life," the current Miss New Jersey Lindsey Giannini said. "We are just so happy there are so many people here to smile on the legacy that she left."
Mike Frankel, the sports anchor at Millville-based SNJ Today where McCollum landed a job, said during less than a year as news anchor McCollum proved she was a hard worker who deeply cared about her colleagues.
"She made us infinitely better," he said.
Several hundred filled the landmark tabernacle. Among them were family members of McCollum and Jones, including McCollum's mother, Maureen.
The site is just blocks from the Ocean City Music Pier where McCollum was crowned Miss New Jersey on the night of June 15, 2013.
McCollum was critically injured in an accident on the night of Feb. 15 on Route 55 in Pittsgrove Township and died one week later.
Her family said McCollum had made the decision to donate her organs -- another way to help others, family said .
McCollum was born and raised in Forrest City in eastern Arkansas and graduated as the high school valedictorian there.
She then headed east, enrolling at Princeton University. Majoring in English, she graduated there in June 2015.
It was during her time at Princeton that McCollum that she was crowned Miss New Jersey 2013 and represented the Garden State in the 2014 Miss America Pageant.
Last year McCollum began work at Millville-based SNJ Today.
Her funeral was held in her hometown of Forrest City, Arkansas, on Feb. 28.
Saturday's service was organized as a way for those in this region who knew her to honor her memory.
Jones thanked everyone for their "love, support and your prayers."
Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow South Jersey Times on Twitter @TheSJTimes. Find NJ.com on Facebook.