The Chunky community will be remembering Kristina Shaver and her daughters Baylie and Brooklyn at a memorial service Saturday at Newton County Funeral Home.

Some who knew them recalled their qualities on Friday of joy, loving and compassion.

The family died Monday night  while celebrating Halloween with their cousins with a trailer wagon-ride on Highway 80 when a truck struck them from behind.  Seven other family members were injured in the accident.

Kristina, or “Tina,” worked as a charge nurse for Rush Foundation Hospital. 

One of her supervisors, Kristin Molony, the clinical director of Critical Care and Telemetry, recalled that when Kristina’s husband, Kerry Shaver, died in July, Kristina still cared for her work.

“She still had that compassion,” Molony said. “She put (her patients) ahead of her own grieving process.” 

Molony said Kristina, before the accident, had been nominated for November’s employee of the month for her work in the unit. Next Wednesday, an honorary ceremony will be held for Kristina.

“She always had these funny sayings, like ‘cool beans,’ ” said Sheena Secrist, who worked with Kristina for four years. “We called her “The Book” because she had a photographic memory.”

Secrist called Kristina a “Brother’s Keeper” at Rush, “She was our go-to person for everything.”

Kristina liked to wear bright red lipstick, Secrist said. For Valentine’s Day, when Secrist was going through a break-up, Kristina told everyone to wear red lipstick and dress up.

“We dressed up like we were going out but we weren’t doing anything but working,” Secrist said. “There’s a photo of us with our red lips in the hallway… Every time we go through the hallway we see that picture.”

Secrist and coworkers teased Kristina for her nine cats, all rescued, calling her a “cat lady.”

“She loved animals. If she saw an animal on the side of the road or one wandered up to her house she would take them in,” Secrist said. “She treated them as if they were people.”

Kristina had been scheduled to work the day after the accident on Tuesday.

“At 8 a.m. Tuesday we were still looking for her even though we knew…” Secrist said.

“More than coworkers we were (all) family. I see my coworkers more than I see my family sometimes,” said Secrist, laughing. “But she was always talking about her little girls. She loved her family. Family was the most important thing to her.”

Baylie, 7, had just played with the Chunky Under-Eight Softball League last summer. Baylie’s grandparents, the Bradshaws, had sponsored the team, according to Jennifer Embrey, whose husband, Eric Embrey, coaches the team.

“She was very fun, very loving,” Embrey said. “All my girls were like that.

“But Baylie, she was the smile on the team,” Embrey said. “When I said she need to do this or do that she was very responsive. Always very respectful and said, ‘Yes, sir.’ “

Embrey said he coached all of the girls in the family, including Baylie’s cousins Brianna and Kaitlyn, who were injured in the accident.

Brooklyn, 2, was too young to play for Embrey, but he likely would have coached her, too.

“I coached all of those girls,” said Embrey, who remembered Brooklyn running around the bleachers while her sister practiced.

Kristina’s sister, Melissa Cook, and her children also rode in the trailer. Melissa and three of her children are receiving medical treatment at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

UMMC reported Melissa’s and Brycen’s conditions as good on Friday.

Melissa’s daughter’s Chloe and Kaitlyn and Baylie’s older sister, McKenzie, have all improved from serious condition on Thursday to fair condition on Friday, according to UMMC.

Brianna Cook, Melissa’s daughter, and Adam Smith, a cousin, were injured in the accident and treated at Meridian hospitals.

Services for Kristina, Baylie and Brooklyn are scheduled to at noon at Newton County Funeral Home. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. until noon.

Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church will accept food donations for the family before the services and feed the family after.

A Gofundme page for the families, set up by family friend Bridgett Hines Hitt, will benefit grandparents Terry and Linda Smith. As of 3:30 p.m. on Friday, the Gofundme had raised nearly $23,000 for memorial services, travel expenses and hospital costs.

A previous version of this article stated that Baylie’s maternal grandparents, the Smiths, sponsored the team and named McKenzie as the oldest sister. We apologize for this error and any harm it may have caused.