Halli Nicole Nguyen

Halli Nicole Nguyen

June 27, 2005 – August 29, 2026

Halli Nicole Nguyen, 21, passed away unexpectedly on August 29, 2026. Halli came into this world truly wanting to make it a better place. She was born that way. From the time she was a little girl, she possessed a deep compassion for others and believed that people deserved to beloved, accepted, and treated with dignity.

Halli began writing when she was just eight years old. One of the first things she wrote was a petition against going to SeaWorld. At eleven years old, she began a backpack project to help ensure that people experiencing homelessness had access to basic hygiene essentials.

Halli was a born advocate. She believed deeply in fighting for human rights and wanted everyone to be loved and accepted exactly as they were. She supported the causes she believed in with both her voice and her actions, including donating to The Trevor Project.

Creativity was also an important part of Halli’s life. She was active at Studio1, ACT (Alamance Children’s Theater), and The Gallery Players Theater Company in Burlington, North Carolina, performing in many productions over the years. After arriving at Queens, she participated in several productions thereas well. Halli believed in giving back to the arts and volunteered at Studio1 summer camps.

Halli graduated from Walter M. Williams High School in Burlington, North Carolina in 2023. During her senior year, she was selected as a member of the first cohort of the Elon College Freedom Writers. Halli continued her education at Queens University of Charlotte, where writing remained an important part of her life. Her work was published in Queens’ Signet every year she attended. For the past two summers, she also taught Creative Writing Camp through Queens Academic Camps.

In the days immediately before her passing, Halli had been working on a documentary with the English Department at Queens. She had come home to pack and was so excited to return to Queens to begin her senior year and to be reunited with her beloved friends, including Nolan, Molly, Isabella, and so many others she loved there.

Halli also shared a lifelong friendship with her childhood best friend, Teliah. Although college took them to different schools, their friendship remained an important and cherished part of Halli’s life. Halli would have been the first in her mother’s direct family line to graduate from college, anaccomplishment she took tremendous pride in and worked incredibly hard to achieve.

Halli was passionate, thoughtful, intelligent, driven, caring, and deeply empathetic. She loved her family and friends deeply. She was a fierce and devoted protector of her little sister, Lillian, and she adored herbaby brother, Evan. She treasured “the cousins”—Ava, Emma, Ethan, Tram, Tai, and Tri—and cherished being an “Auntie cousin” to Nathan, Caleb, Thea, and Ayden.

Halli was her mom’s and her Gams’ Sunshine. She challenged those around her every day to be better humans and to make the world a better place. She had a voice, she used it, and she cared deeply about what happened to other people.

Halli is survived by her mother, Shelli Gore Nguyen; her father, Tim Nguyen (Sonya); her sister, Lillian Holloway; and her baby brother, Evan and Stepbrother Nolan.

On her mother’s side, Halli is survived by her maternal grandparents, Sherri Adams and Bryan Gore (Laura, “Grammy Lu”); her great-aunts, Renee’ Beckner (“Aunt Nae”) and Cheryle Cribb; her aunts, Chelsea Hardee (William) and Jillian Gore; and her cousins, Michael Beckner (Angel), Ayanna, Collin, Mabry Hardee, Nellie Hardee, Liam Hardee, Ripley Gore, and Stone Stocks.

On her father’s side, Halli is survived by her paternal grandparents, Lan Duong (“Bà Nội”) and Trong Nguyen (“Ông Nội”); her aunts and uncle, Nhung Nguyen (“Cô Hai”), Trang Nguyen (“Cô Tư”), My Nguyen (“Cô Năm”) (Ben), Hanh Nguyen (“Cô Sáu”) (Muraad), Linda Smithson (“Cô Bảy”) (Ryan), Hung Nguyen (“Chú Tám”) (Yhna), and Jennifer Nguyen (“Cô Chín”) (Tucker); and her cousins, Cindy Nguyen (Vlad), Dung Nguyen, Tram Nguyen, Tai Nguyen, Tri Nguyen, Armaan Khan, Ava Smithson, Emma Smithson, Ethan Smithson, Nathan Nguyen, Caleb Nguyen, Thea Nguyen, and Ayden Nguyen.

Halli was preceded in death by her maternal great-grandparents, Helen P. Walton (“Mema”), Burnell M. Stanley (“Grandma Nell”), and Marvin L. Stanley (“Poppa”), and by her great-uncle, Truitt Dean Stocks.

Halli’s absence leaves a space that cannot be filled. She will be remembered for the words she wrote, the people she loved, the causes she stood for, and the unmistakable way she moved through the world. Halli was here. Halli mattered. Halli was deeply loved. And she will never be forgotten.

Celebration of Life

A Celebration of Life honoring Halli will be held Sunday, September 6, 2026, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Studio1, 309 Huffman Mill Road, Unit 540, Burlington, NC 27215, located in Holly Hill Mall.

In Lieu of Flowers

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Halli’s memory to one of the following three organizations, each representing causes and communities she cared about deeply:

The Trevor Project https://give.thetrevorproject.org

Studio1 https://studio1online.org/

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/donate