Lyaysa Mckinnon

LyAysa McKinnon was a young woman of Laurinburg, North Carolina, known to family and friends for her bright smile and joyful spirit. Though still at the beginning of her life, she held steady responsibilities — including working at the Family Dollar in Laurel Hill — and was described by those who loved her as sweet, intelligent, and full of promise.

Relatives have said LyAysa was close to her mother and family; community accounts note she was the youngest of her mother’s children and that she often carried a cheerful, welcoming presence. Small-town Laurinburg remembers many ordinary, warm moments of youth and family life, and LyAysa’s name appears in local community records from earlier years, showing she was known in the area from childhood.

Friends and family rallied after her death, raising funds to help with funeral and burial costs and sharing memories of the laughter she brought into everyday gatherings. Their recollections emphasize how much she mattered to those around her — a young woman who worked, connected with neighbors, and brightened rooms with a smile.

LyAysa’s life matters beyond the circumstances of her passing. She was a real person with people who loved her, daily routines, and simple ambitions. While public records and news accounts record the tragic fact that she died on December 22, 2019, those facts do not capture the whole of who she was. This remembrance honors the human parts of her story that family and friends shared: her warmth, her intelligence, and the promise others saw in her future.

Where details are drawn from community reporting and public databases, they are presented with care and restraint. For those who knew LyAysa, she is remembered first for the life she lived among family and friends — for the small kindnesses, the smiles, and the ordinary moments that make a life unique — and those memories are held tenderly by her community.