OBITUARY

Journalist

"She was the glue that held us all together with her life of love, laughter and family.

"We will always be our family of three, Louise will never be forgotten, she lives in Lily and watches over her."

It is fitting that the story of Louise Scott-Gallagher’s life should start with the words her husband, Craig Gallagher, shared during the service to celebrate her life.

Certainly neither she nor anyone who knew her ever believed the day would come so soon that her life would need to be celebrated, so characteristically resolute and unswayed was she from the belief that she would beat cancer.

As her friend Alison Raye said, in words read out at the celebration - no matter the challenges she faced, Louise’s determination to pursue her dreams and live her life on her own terms was unwavering.

Louise was born on February 3, 1981, in Omagh, Northern Ireland. She followed two sisters, Andrea and Diane, and was herself followed by her brother Bob.

In 1984, when Louise was 3 years old, her mother Anne died from breast cancer, leaving her father Andrew to raise the four children with the help of extended family, on the Scott farm near Gillygooley in County Tyrone.

An incredibly tight bond with her family would be maintained through Louise’s life.

It was a life with not a minute wasted.

From a small child, Louise was busy - learning to cook and play music, participating in church, family and community activities, youth groups, Girls’ Brigade and general socialising took up her time.

She did well at school, attending Omagh High School, where school discos became a term highlight, complete with carefully planned outfits and teenage antics with her sisters and brother, followed by two years at Omagh Academy.

Music was always a big part of her life - there were piano, bagpipes and cornet lessons and she spent hours dancing and singing to records, creating routines, talking with her sister Diane late into the night, listening to Atlantic 252 and recording the Sunday night Top 10 charts so she could play her favourite New Kids On The Block songs over and over.

She would remain a life-long lover of parties and banter; as her friend Josie Spillane said at her celebration, Louise was "always the first on the dance floor, and often the last one home".

A collector of friends around the world, she had a gift for bringing people together.

Her exceptional empathy meant she was often the first to provide comfort and care at times of need.

A prolific cook, she was a "feeder - that’s how she showed love".

Many of the people she collected were compelled to join in following Louise’s Gillygooley traditions, whether it was sharing a home-made morsel packed in Tupperware or the full Gillygooley Christmas dinner experience, featuring prawn cocktail, turkey and wheaten bread.

In 1998 when she was 17 and working at a cafe, Louise was badly hurt in the deadly Omagh bombing.

This moment in her life affected her deeply, she lost friends in the bombing, but refused to be defined by it and decided to move to Coleraine in Northern Ireland to study at the University of Ulster.

She completed her bachelor of arts degree in English and history in 2002.

In 2003, she went to Japan to teach English and there met her good friend Sarah Taylor, who would, in time, be the catalyst for Louise’s first trip to New Zealand.

Louise returned to Northern Ireland from Japan in 2005, well-versed in socialising, with many new friends added to her collection, and she completed a journalism course, which was to become her passion and career.

She started as a journalist at the Tyrone Constitution, later moving to the Dungannon Courier.

A stint after that as the press officer with the Ulster Unionist Party in Belfast spoke to a deep personal and familial connection to politics, which Louise spoke about usually only with those who she felt "got" Northern Ireland.

Some people felt that her ability to take a position and argue it meant she quite possibly could have had a career in politics herself.

In 2011 she moved to England to work in public relations at the Yorkshire Building Society.

Sadly, tragedy was to strike again, as Louise’s father, whom she was exceptionally close to, was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and died in 2013.

Louise decided to go travelling before arriving in Queenstown in 2014.

Her northern Irish charm landed her a job at popular restaurant and bar Gantleys, before signing on that year as a reporter with local weekly newspaper, Mountain Scene.

In late 2017 she interviewed local event manager Craig Gallagher for a story.

He was to become the love of her life and they quickly became inseparable.

They wanted the same things - to start a family, travel, develop their careers and spend quality time with friends, and their home became the central location for gatherings and impressive Christmas parties.

In early 2018 Louise became the regional editor for the Otago Daily Times, in Dunedin, commuting from Queenstown.

She gained New Zealand residency in 2020 and late that year took a role as a senior communications adviser for the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi, based in Queenstown.

She was back home.

Over the years Louise had become an involved and much-loved actual and special aunt to many children, including eight nieces and nephews.

After several years trying for her own longed-for child, she found out she was pregnant following IVF treatment, in February 2023.

A few months later, she felt a lump in her breast.

It was cancer and she underwent a single mastectomy in June.

A treasured daughter, Lily, was born healthy in September 2023, at 32 weeks.

Wanting her daughter to have her own memories of her mum, Louise did everything she could to fight the cancer that was taking over her body, never letting it take over her mind or her determination.

While undergoing multiple rounds of different chemotherapy treatments she continued cooking, cleaning and caring for Lily and Craig, spending as much time as possible with friends and family, travelling and working, and organised and attended parties, events, coffees, lunches and dinners until only weeks before she died.

On May 7 this year, she received the news the chemotherapy had not worked.

She and Craig married on May 19 and she died peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, the following night.

She was 44 and she made every second count.

- Contributed