In Loving Memory of Colleen (nee Szabo) Payne.

Colleen Aimee Cecile (nee Szabo) Payne, of Kannapolis, North Carolina, died Sunday, March 3, 2024.

Colleen was a loving mother, a fiercely independent woman, and had the soul of an artist. The depth of loss that her family, friends, and community feel, is only just beginning to settle everyone.

Colleen leaves behind four beautiful children. Each unique, and with hearts of gold.

It is for the youngest of her children, Kailagh Payne, that this fund raiser has been established.

Kailagh is an artistic and precocious 8 year-old that needs your help. Her father, Joe Louis Payne, preceded Colleen in death, leaving Kailagh without a mother or a father to guide her. She will need all the love, emotional support, and financial resources she can get to assist her growth and development to become the excellent young woman that her mother dreamed she would be.

Without her parents, Kailagh's care and guardianship falls to her elder brother Keith. Keith will provide Kailagh a loving home and act as a positive role model, but no young man is ever prepared to act as both mother and father for their 8 year-old sister.

This family is strong, but it needs your help.

In the short-term, your generous donations will provide clothing, counseling, school supplies, and cover medical expenses for Kailagh. Once those immediate needs are met, your donations will help secure her future: a trust to help her in the years to come, and to establish a college fund to achieve the higher education that Colleen would have wanted for her.

The loss of Colleen was sudden and has left hole that no-one else can fill.

But your donation is a very real chance to show Kailagh the power of community. To show her that she is not alone. And that, even from tragedy, new beginnings can emerge.

Thank you for your support