Alison Parker had just turned 24, and this year was shaping up to be her best — she had an on-camera gig at her hometown TV station and was living with the love of her life.
Parker had been at WDBJ in Roanoke, Va., for only a little more than a year, but her natural news instincts, bubbly personality and infectious smile energized the newsroom, colleagues and family said.
“She was a rock star here at WDBJ. You throw anything at that girl and she could do it,” said Kimberly McBroom, the anchor whose startled expression was caught when the live feed cut back to the newsroom seconds after the shooting.
Relatives of the pretty blonde, who celebrated her birthday last week, remembered her as a “bright, shining light” who touched every person she met.
“Our family can only take solace in the fact that although her life was brief, she was so happy with it,” her father, Andy, wrote in a statement.
The grieving dad added that he spoke to her every day, saying, “Not hearing her voice again crushes my soul.”
WDBJ’s evening anchor, Chris Hurst, revealed that he and Parker were in love — sending out a series of heartbreaking tweets about his loss.
“We didn’t share this publicly, but @AParkerWDBJ7 and I were very much in love. We just moved in together. I am numb,” Hurst tweeted.
“We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married,” he wrote, adding that he had spent her birthday week with her and her family whitewater rafting in North Carolina.
“She was the most radiant woman I ever met. And for some reason, she loved me back. She loved her family, her parents and her brother.”
Soon after, he shared a collection of photos on Facebook, including a picture of them together, Hurst in a black tuxedo with a pink flower pinned to his lapel and Parker wearing a black lacy dress.
“This is unconscionable. But I WILL share her story because it is one full of life, dreams, love and amazing journalism,” he wrote.
In Parker’s final text Wednesday, she told her fiancé, “Good night, sweet boy.”
Parker, a Virginia native, had returned to WDBJ in May 2014 after leaving a TV-reporting gig in Jacksonville, NC.
She had interned at the station during her college days at James Madison University, from which she graduated in 2012.
She had interned at the station during her college days at James Madison University, from which she graduated in 2012.
“She was an excellent journalist,” Brad Jenkins, the manager of the student newspaper where Parker served as news editor, told The Washington Post.
“I pictured seeing her on national news one day — she was that good. She had the ‘it’ factor.”
Despite working at WDBJ for a short time, Parker had already filled in on the anchor desk. She regularly covered breaking news stories with her cameraman, Adam Ward, who was also killed Wednesday in the shooting.
Colleagues said the two were known as a team that worked efficiently and even had a little fun, participating in a sleep study together and getting stuck in the snow.