Before she passed away from cancer, A. J. Walters made her husband Sean and daughter Brittany promise herone thing: Sean would go with Brittany, a high school senior, to the homecoming game, where she was in the running for homecoming queen. 

A. J. was a beloved teacher at Brittany's high school, in Brooklyn. It was important to her that her daughter would make it. Brittany and Sean agreed. 

Days later, on the morning of Friday, September 24, A. J. died. Keeping their promise, that very afternoon, Brittany walked arm in arm with her father across the football field with others await the outcome of the voting. 

Brittany wasn't named homecoming queen that day; Nyla Covington was. But, like many in the closely linked community, Nyla had heard about A. J. In an unplanned gesture, moments after receiving the crown（王冠）, Nyla walked over to Brittany, removed it from her head, and placed it atop Brittany's. The two held each other, tearfully for support. "She'd rather have her mom than a crown," Nyla told CNN. By handing it to Brittany, "I was telling her that she was her mom's queen, and that she was loved by many, especially me."

"I felt so much love from her, and I just felt so much love for her," said Brittany, who paid Nyla the highest praise, telling WDAM News, "I can see my mom through Nyla. They have the same caring, giving spirit."

Nyla is still noble （高尚的）despite lack of a crown, says Tyra Willamor, a friend of the Walters family. She told KTVU News, "There's a saying that real queens fix each other's crowns. But the truth is, real queens give up their crowns to let other queens shine."