Although mourning Kayleigh Billings’ death so soon after she started her first job in Texas, her parents and friends have been celebrating her life with an outpouring of tributes in her memory.
“She loved the light in me, and her light is her love, joy, humor and empathy,” Billings’ mother, Stacy Toal, said of the 2009 Destrehan High School graduate. “It’s light in her music and desire to teach others. It’s not just that she wanted to play an instrument or teach, she wanted to touch people’s lives – and she did.”
The oldest of three children, Billings had just graduated from Louisiana State University (LSU) with a bachelor’s degree in music education and music performance.
She had recently moved to Houston to start her dream job as orchestra director at Spring Woods Middle School in Spring Woods, Texas.
“She’d found her own job and they hired her an hour after interviewing her,” Toal said. “I remember her calling me this summer and telling me they hired her on sight.”
Shortly after starting the job, she died in an Aug. 15 drowning accident.
“She was only 24, but the way it’s impacted people has been very profound,” she said. “We just saw a tremendous outpouring of people and were shocked by how many people were talking about it and messaging me and my ex-husband.”
A photograph of the University of Missouri’s marching band forming the letters “LSU” in memory of Billings and classmate Mitchell Swenson, who also recently died, went viral on Twitter.
Missouri’s band director, Fuller Lyon, also was a graduate assistant with the Golden Band From Tigerland while he was at LSU.
“We believe it is an unprecedented honor to see such a powerful gesture from one SEC band to another, which is in itself uplifting,” Toal said. “But the story of this highly successful Destrehan graduate, whose life was cut short too soon, is how this has resonated far beyond St. Charles Parish.”
Her father’s company, Corning Inc., has endowed an oak at LSU in Billings’ name, as well as endowed a scholarship in her memory for a student who wants to study music at the university.
Billings’ father, Curt, who ‘s also an LSU graduate. “We are so grateful that Corning did this, which is such an incredibly generous gesture,” Toal said.
“Her legacy is laughter, taking care of each other and taking care of those who need extra help, as well as taking the extra step to make sure someone is okay,” a tearful Toal recounted of her daughter, who she taught a year at DHS and where she is band director. The band’s show this year, “Flight,” will be dedicated to Billings.
“I think I lost more than a daughter,” she said. “I feel like she was a soul twin because we are so much alike.”Billings also helped carry on a legacy of music in her family and was proud of her siblings. Toal said she believes her influence carried on in all three younger siblings who followed in her footsteps.
Her twin brothers, Nick and Alex, are also musicians and attend Round Rock High School near Austin, Texas, and her younger sister, Katie, is a DHS senior who is also a Desty Darling and on the homecoming court.
Billings influenced many people, including her mother.“Very recently, Kayleigh told me, “Momma, I just want you to be happy.’ Her expression of love to me was that she was proud of me and wanted me to be happy really means a lot to me because there she was at the happiest of her life.”Toal also recounted Billings’ enormous empathy.
She was involved with the Bunny Rescue, as well as would go into pet stores to make sure the bunnies had enough hay, she said.
“If she cared about you and loved you, she wanted to make sure you were okay whether you were a bunny in a pet store or her mom,” Toal said.
She also recalled fondly her daughter’s sense of humor.“I think that Kayleigh has given a lot of joy and laughter to people … that she made feel good about who they are,” her mother said. “There was a lot of laughter with her.”
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