BILLINGS, Mont. — A Billings mother is grieving a second unimaginable loss after losing both of her daughters at the same age, just two years apart. Now, her community is rallying around her to help create a place to honor the young women she called her world.
Watch the McColley's story here:
Mary McColley, of Billings, lost her youngest daughter, Kataraina "Rain" McColley, 28, in July 2026. Rain was riding on the back of a scooter in the Billings Heights area when it was struck by another vehicle, killing her instantly.
Just two years earlier, Mary lost her older daughter, Kassie McColley, also 28, in a hit and run on Feb. 1, 2024, while she was walking along the side of Highway 10 in Laurel.
"We lost her at 28 years old, very suddenly," Mary said.
In the weeks following Rain's death, the Billings community organized a memorial fundraiser — complete with an auction, raffle tickets and donations — all to raise money for Rain's headstone and a permanent family memorial site.
'She was my light, my hope, my rainbow'
Mary said she chose the name Kataraina with great intention.
"There's a tradition in the family that names had to start with a K," Mary said. She said she also loved rain and had always dreamed of living near Seattle. "So I had to come up with something very clever and so we did Raina, like the rain in the sky with an 'uh' and then Tatta with a K, so we got the name created from that."
From the moment Rain was born, Mary said she knew her daughter was extraordinary.
"She was like my light, my hope, my rainbow," she said. "She embodied this whole thing of trust and beauty and love, non-judgment and when people say she lit up a room, I'm telling ya, that's really the epitome of Kataraina."
Mary described Rain as curious, warm and deeply devoted to family. She loved organizing, worked as a preschool teacher and a private nanny, earned certifications working with special education students and even traveled to Israel — a lifelong dream.
"She was a sponge, she was absorbent and exuberant," Mary said. "She wanted to learn drywall, she wanted to learn plumbing, she wanted to learn German... she was very well-rounded."
Even as a teenager, Rain was known to leave sleepovers early — not because of any trouble, but simply because she wanted to be home with her mom.
"She'd be like, I got a stomach ache, I wanna come home," Mary recalled with a smile. "Her friends just kinda knew she was a mommy's girl and they'd just come get the slippers and join."
A family no stranger to loss
Mary said the grief of losing Rain came on top of a lifetime of heartbreak. The family lost Rain and Kassie's father on Father's Day in 2003. They lost a son at birth on Christmas in 1997. And they lost the girls' stepfather, Stetson Sheppard, on Christmas 2021.
Mary is now raising her granddaughter, Kimber, 11.
Despite it all, Mary said she refuses to live in grief.
"It's not about strength," Mary said. "It's about faith firstly, but what it is is to carry on in my daughter's memory, not to look back and live in grief because that's a dangerous place."
Building a place to remember
Funds raised at Saturday's event will go directly toward Rain's headstone and, eventually, a family memorial site with room for Kassie and other loved ones, so the family — and anyone who cared for them — has a permanent place to gather.
"We want to live in their love, light and memory and not in the pain of their death," Mary said.
Mary said she is overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Billings community.
"I want to say thank you, genuinely, every single one of you that have helped us and supported us. Because you have been a made family for me, and that means the world," she said.
How to help
A GoFundMe has been set up to support the McColley family. It can be found at gofundme.com/f/a-grieving-mother-and-family.
The fundraiser can also be found on Facebook under Mary McColley (M-C-C-O-L-L-E-Y) or by searching Kataraina McColley (K-A-T-A-R-A-I-N-A).
