Video by Hannah Fisher Mallory Houser and Ben Tatum, Story by Ben Johnson

Update:

The visitation for Nicole will be held on Tuesday, July 2 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of McKinney. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, July 3, at 2 p.m., also at the First Baptist Church. A reception will be held at Evans Middle School immediately following graveside services.

In fifth grade, Nicole Quincy found fourth grader Brittany Stout all alone crying. She reached out, as she did throughout her life.

“I was crying in the hallway and Nicole came to me and sat with me while I was crying,” Brittany said. “She was a fifth grader, but she knew my name, and she hugged me and was there for me.”

During her first day on the varsity basketball team as a junior in high school, Brittany was frustrated about having a bad day until team captain Nicole offered her advice.

“Nicole pulled me aside and said ‘Stop doubting yourself,’” Brittany said. “’You’re a great basketball player. You’re having a bad day, but you can’t let it affect you.’ Every time I fell, she’d pick me right up.”

Recent graduate Nicole Quincy, a four-year volunteer at the Special Olympics, a Distinguished Student and a leader on the Lionettes basketball team died in a car accident June 28 returning from a senior trip to the beach with two friends who both survived. The accident happened near San Antonio when the driver swerved to miss an animal, lost control of the car and hit a tree. Nicole, in the passenger seat, died instantly.

“Not sure where to go from here,” classmate Mackenzie Shaver said on Twitter Friday. “Heaven gained one crazy, hilarious angel today.”

McKinney students gathered for a candlelight vigil in the front parking lot at MHS June 29 at 8 p.m. to honor Nicole’s memory and celebrate her life. To help alleviate the Quincy’s funeral expenses, donations were taken at the vigil and can still be made directly to Turrentine Jackson Morrow Funeral Home.

“I hope everyone will go to MHS tomorrow to remember Nicole,” friend Emily Brightman said. “She would love to see all the people who care about her there.”

According to her friends, Nicole lived her life with generosity, compassion and love.

“She loved everyone unconditionally. She was someone who could light up a room from the second she walked in,” Brittany said. “And it was a bright room.”

To Brittany and her fellow teammates, Nicole stood as a role model on the basketball court. Her passion for the game, which earned her a scholarship to play at Southwestern College in Kansas, inspired and motivated all those around her.

“I looked up to her. She was always that role model for me,” Brittany said. “She’s the one I want to play harder for. I want to one-up the competition for her. I’m going to play 33 times harder for her because that’s what she would have wanted for me to do. I’m going to dedicate the rest of my basketball career to her.”

In the Lionettes’ first year in 5A, Nicole helped lead the team to the state play-offs, clinching a spot during the last game of the regular season.

“The buzzer rang and I froze for a moment. All these emotions ran through me. I was so happy for winning, so proud of my team and so sad because it was the last game I’ll ever play in that gym, and it was one game closer to the end,” Nicole said in a story in the yearbook. “I ran to the center of the court where my teammates were jumping up and down and hugging each other. I saw everyone who had supported me through everything. It was one game I’ll remember until I die.”

Off the court, Nicole brought joy to those around her and was an active member of the Lion Nation.

“She was a great person, a great student and the best person you could ever ask for,” Brittany said. “She literally bled blue and gold and she considered all of McKinney her family. Not just her team and friends, but everyone, freshman through senior.”

Nicole attended football games and sporting events decked out in blue and gold, ready to support the Lions.

“Nicole was one of my best friends. When we were little we used to talk about how we were going to grow old together and buy side-by-side houses and tell our children about all our crazy high school memories,” Natalie Throneberry said. “Nicole always knew how to put a smile on my face. I’ll never forget making signs for everyone and cheering everyone on, even in the rain. She will be missed so much.”

Her school spirit wasn’t limited to football games. No matter the sport, Nicole showed up and cheered on the Lions.

“At the beginning of softball season, she and Brittney Collard came out to one of our games, screaming and cheering with noisemakers the whole time,” junior Sarah Appleby said. “When we won, they ran onto the field with flags, screaming ‘State 2013!’ They were the biggest fans we ever had come to a game.”

Friends and teachers alike felt her permeating spirit.

“She was kind and funny,” former MHS teacher Ms. Kacie Krug said. “A little quiet in class, but she worked so hard.”

Nicole treated every member of her McKinney family equally, no matter their age.

“It was the second day of school my freshman year, and she was a junior and she [Nicole] let me sit with her for a whole semester before I made more friends,” junior Nina Orozco said. “I’ll never forget when I sang the National Anthem at a varsity girls basketball game. I was looking at the team and Nicole was looking at me and smiling and once I finished she mouthed ‘Good job!’ I’ll never forget how sweet she was.”

Whenever her younger friends needed her, Nicole stepped up to help them, be there for them and give them advice.

“She was like my older sister,” junior Krissy Fontillas said. “She always gave me rides home, talked about anything, and had my back for everything. She taught me so much on the basketball court and a whole lot more off. She really taught me how to live life by having fun in everything I do. ”

Friends said Nicole was positive and full of energy.

“Even if she was having a horrible day, she would put others before herself,” Brittany said. “She was that light, that fire that was always there that was always happy.”

Nicole tweeted April 23: “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough!”