By Beth Alston

FORT VALLEY — Young college roommates/friends and a truck driver all lost their lives in a fiery traffic crash Saturday night in Peach County.
According to Sgt. Craig Smith, assistant commander of Post 15, Georgia State Patrol, Perry, the accident occurred shortly after 10 p.m. at the intersection of the Ga. Highway 49 Connector and Woolfolk Road, Fort Valley. He said a 1999 Honda Accord, driven by Precious Waters, 20, of Fort Valley, pulled into the path of a 2018 International tractor-trailer hauling fertilizer, driven by Georgia Harris, 55, of Macon. The trooper said the crash resulted in a fire and both vehicles burned. Both drivers were dead at the scene, he said, as was Waters’ passenger, Kearsten Robinson, 19, of Fort Valley.
Lorenzo Waters of Americus, Precious Waters’ uncle, said the young woman was a talented dancer and “full of life.” He is a brother to the girl’s mother, Nikki Waters. Precious Waters was the only child of Nikki Waters of Americus and Melvin Stephens of Covington. The uncle said that his niece grew up in Americus, attending Americus-Sumter High School her first two years and her junior and senior years in Covington, where she graduated. The uncle said the outpouring of texts, phone calls, emails, and visits has been nothing like he has ever seen. “She got along with everybody, other students, her teachers,” he told the Times-Recorder. “She was one of those teenagers you’re glad you raised.” He said funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Central Baptist Church in Americus. Arrangements are being handled by West Mortuary in Americus.
Kearsten Robinson, 19, formerly of Leesburg, was also a Fort Valley State student as well as a dancer. She and Waters were roommates and friends.
According to published reports, Waters was an elementary and special education major and Robinson, a biology major. “They each enhanced student life and the academic environment at this university,” the school said in the statement to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “Both were active participants in the P.H.A.S.E.S. dance group. Their joy and smiles will be missed by everyone who knew them, and there will be a void on campus wherever their spirit was present.
“Our collective love goes out to the families of both of these extraordinary young women, as well as to each student, faculty member, and staff member who are mourning their loss,” the statement said.
Robinson’s funeral will be held Thursday and is being handled by J.W. Williams Funeral Home of Cordele. No further details were available at press time.