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A U.S. Army veteran and mail carrier killed in a double homicide that left three others wounded is being remembered as smart, ambitious and outgoing.
Chaveda Willis, 33, was affectionately known by friends and family as Woodie or Woo. She was one of two mothers killed in the early-morning hours of Labor Day when gunfire erupted outside a Birmingham club and led to a drive-by outside the UAB Hospital emergency room.
“Everybody loved her,’’ said one of her sisters, TreLena Smith. “She was an encourager, a people person.”
Willis was described as a giver, not a taker, and a woman who doted on her 11-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter.
“They were her life,’’ said her aunt, Kimblyn Reedy. “She was an excellent mom. She went over the top for her kids.”
Killed in the same shooting was 24-year-old Markiezia Atkins, also a mother and a Miles College student.
A vigil for Willis will be held at 6 p.m. Monday in a north Birmingham park.