We are deeply saddened to have to share with you all the news of the sudden death of our loved and respected colleague Louise Cooper. Louise was the Community of Practice’s Admin Officer and will be a familiar name and face to so many members – in your inbox and as host at so many of our online events.
Louise joined Ageing Better and the Community of Practice team just one week after me in August 2020. Together we navigated our way through getting to grips with the organisation, the induction processes and the task ahead – setting up the Community of Practice. Though if I’m honest, despite me being her manager, Louise was usually at least one step ahead of me with both questions and answers.
I don’t think I have ever met anyone more enthusiastic about admin than Louise – something we regularly laughed about – but we all benefitted hugely from Louise’s passion for her job. From her meticulous attention to detail, to her reliably proactive approach to spotting and flagging potential issues – colleagues, partners and members of the Community were all able to do their jobs better as a result of Louise’s support.
But to me, actually, that pales in significance when I reflect on what else she brought to our team – a huge dose of support and positivity for everyone, when we needed it most. Louise was protective of our team – demonstrated in the way she’d insist on never scheduling back-to-back meetings, to allow us those all important coffee breaks. She could tell when one of us was having a bad day just by reading our faces in a Zoom meeting and without fail, minutes later there would be an email or text message to let you know that she thought you were doing a great job, or an offer of help.
Because Louise was part of our tiny team running the Community of Practice from its infancy, it’s hard to imagine the Community without her. Louise’s death leaves a hole in our Community – she will be dearly missed.
By Veronica Hawking, former Healthy Ageing Challenge Community of Practice Project Manager
