Tributes paid to 'one of a kind' teaching assistant

DOTING MOTHER WAS A 'REALLY GIVING PERSON'

- By NAOMI CORRIGAN

TRIBUTES have been paid to a 'one of a kind' teaching assistant and doting mum and gran who has lost her brave battle against cancer.

Louise Draper worked at schools across Teesside and her family said she adored working with pupils and their families. Her own children were "her whole world" and she was also a beloved grand-mother of four little girls.

She was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2021 but continued to work until a year before her death at the age of 68 at the Butterwick Hospice in Stockton. Her daughter told The Gazette her mum continued smiling and joking right until the end.

Louise worked as a teaching assistant at several schools including Grangefield Academy in Stockton, Thornaby Community School which became Thornaby Academy and lastly at Whinney Banks Primary School in Middlesbrough. She began her working life at Halifax Bank and she had a break to care for her two children Jen and Philip, now aged 37 and 35.