Mom: McKay Pittman Was Always a "Caretaker"

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For Sherrin Pittman, her daughter Catherine “McKay” Pittman was always more attuned to the world around her. So, when she decided to work towards becoming a nurse, Pittman said career path wasn’t a surprise.

The family would often take trips throughout rural Georgia, and McKay Pittman always expressed dismay at the economic disparities she noticed between her suburban life and the less populated corners of the state.

“She felt as though they were not receiving the same medical treatment as we were in the higher income areas,” Sherrin Pittman said. “She’s always been a caretaker.”

McKay Pittman was making the trip to Savannah as part of her quest to help others when she and four other Georiga Southern University students were killed in an early Wednesday morning accident along Interstate 16.

A celebration of life service for Pittman, who was a junior at Georgia Southern, will be held at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25 at First Baptist Church of Alpharetta. While flowers are being accepted, donations can also be made at any Wells Fargo branch to the McKay Pittman Memorial fund.

• RELATED: Alpharetta Nursing Student Killed in Wreck Near Savannah

Along with Pittman, other students killed in the crash were: Emily Clark, 20, of Powder Springs; Abbie Deloach, 21, of Savannah; Morgan Bass, 20, of Leesburg; and Caitlyn Baggett, 21, of Millen.

Two additional students, Brittney McDaniel of Reidsville and Megan Richards of Loganville, only suffered injuries.

According to the Georgia State Patrol, troopers and Bryan County sheriff’s deputies responded the wreck around 5:45 a.m. near mile marker 141 on the eastbound side of the interstate. Once they arrived onto the scene, officers discovered two tractor-trailers and five passenger vehicles all involved in the pile-up.

Preliminary indication shows a tractor trailer “failed to stop as traffic was slowed/stopped and it crashed into a line of vehicles,” patrol spokesperson Franka Young previously told Patch.

The state agency said four of the occupants died at the scene: three in a Toyota Corrolla and one in a Ford Escape. The three additional occupants of the Escape were transported to Memorial Medical Center where one of three passed away.

Three others involved in the wreck were injured in the crash.

All five women were Georgia Southern nursing students who “were traveling from Statesboro to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Savannah,” Young added.

Sherrin Pittman said the family continues to hold up “well” with the support of relatives and friends. The last time she talked with her daughter was Tuesday evening before she retired for the night. The two routinely talked twice a day: before McKay started her classes and before she went to bed, her mother stated.

While at Georgia Southern University, McKay was president of the Alpha Delta Chi sorority, a student ambassador and active in mission work, according to her obituary. She graduated from Milton High School in 2012 and was a member of the school’s soccer team.

“She was just a really good kid,” she said, adding her daughter effortlessly treated everyone the same.

McKay Pittman is survived by her parents, Sherrin Collins Pittman of Alpharetta and Sam and Jane Pittman of Sandy Springs; sister, Sydney Pittman of Alpharetta; grandparents, Donna Bemont & Bill Lehr of Alpharettta, John Bemont of Cumming, Frank and Barbara Ellis of Alpharetta, Jack and Susan Pittman of Roswell, Harry and Mary Ellen Hawkins of Denver, NC; aunts and uncles, Catherine and Chad Cox, Kelley McKay, Matthew Bemont, Michelle and Gary Pittman; niece, Cate Cox; nephew, Caden Cox and numerous other extended family and friends.

Northside Chapel Funeral Directors in Roswell is handling the arrangements.

While she was always a nurturer, Pittman said that didn’t mean her daughter was passive. McKay always told people what she thought whenever they asked her questions or for advice. While some may not have liked what she had to say, the never doubted her opinion due to her intelligence.

“If something went wrong, they always went to McKay,” she said, referring to her daughter’s sorority sisters.

Sherrin Pittman said her daughter loved her family, her friends and looked forward to helping others everyday. The accident is tragic, as it took the lives of five young women who were well on their way to giving back to their communities, Pittman said.

“I’ll miss her unconditionally every single day, but society is going to miss her…and what she could have become,” she added.

Photo credits: Facebook