Hundreds of mourners gathered at a Harlem church Saturday to honor Lovay Williams, the 27-year-old mother who was fatally beaten in front of her 7-year-old daughter earlier this month.
A white horse-drawn carriage bearing Williams’ photograph carried her white-and-gold casket to Canaan Baptist Church on West 116th Street, where family and friends came to pay their respects.
Williams’ grieving brother, Nuquan Williams Jr., attended the solemn service wearing a necklace that displayed a picture of his sister.
“Right now, I’m very devastated,” he told The Post.
He said he was also angry on his sister’s behalf that her life had been taken at such a young age. Williams, he noted, was a devoted mother who was just 27.
Williams’ daughter, who was found inside the apartment after police arrived and discovered her mother had been brutally beaten, wore a green dress to the funeral—one of Williams’ favorite colors.
“She’s in loving spirits,” Williams Jr. said of the child. “She’s strong for her mom, and she has a bunch of support. You know, me, all my family, work for the state, city … so she’s gonna be well taken care of.”
During the funeral Mass, the young girl was brought to the open casket to see her mother. Williams was dressed in green with a light-colored jacket, a gold necklace and a gold tiara, her hands folded across her front.
Inside the church, mourners sang hymns and shed tears for Williams, who was allegedly killed by her boyfriend, Tiliek Thompson, on Sept. 6 in Washington Heights.
Thompson is being held at Rikers Island and is facing a murder charge.
Williams’ grandfather, Jose Chango Alvarez, spoke through his grief over the loss of his granddaughter.
“But at the same time, I feel blessed that she’s somewhere peaceful in God’s hand, and she not feeling no pain,” the 65-year-old Alvarez said as the choir performed during the service.
“Even though she was taken too early from us, life is gonna move on, but we’re gonna move on in her name, Lovay.”
Alvarez also vowed that Williams’ young daughter would have the support she needs to endure the devastating loss.
“She’s gonna be okay, because we gonna keep her strong,” he said.
Several attendees wore green T-shirts featuring Williams’ photograph and the words “Forever 27,” a tribute to the life she lost far too soon.
Giana Brown remembered Williams as an “amazing person” and one of her closest friends from middle school.
“She always put people before her, like, always putting a smile on somebody’s face,” Brown said. “If you know how her spirit is definitely, like, she has a pure spirit as a person.”
Brown also wore green in Williams’ memory. “Of course, I had to wear green as one of her favorites,” she said.
After the Mass, four doves were released outside the church as the crowd applauded and called out, “We love you.” As Williams’ casket was placed back into the carriage and driven away, one mourner shouted, “Lovay is gone.”
Additional reporting by Andrew Balaban.
