Val's love of golf, horse riding and a 'frisky whisky' forever remembered

Born on March 5, 1929, as Valda Mary Ryan, she was the oldest of five children to Greata and Thomas.

Growing up in the small town of Burraga - about 70 kilometres south of Bathurst - Ms Klower enjoyed a fun childhood.

At the age of 15, she secured her first job working as a live-in Nanny for a family in an even smaller town - Jeremy.

About eight kilometres away, Ms Klower would ride her horse to the family's home, live there for the week and look after the children, before riding back to Burraga for the weekend.

At the age of 21, Ms Klower and a young chap by the name of Ron struck up a courtship.

While they had known each other most of their childhood, the pair's relationship really flourished when riding their horses here, there and everywhere together.

Going on adventures and making memories, it was a real old-fashioned love, and it wasn't long before the young couple decided to get married.

And, like any fairytale romance, the conversation went along the lines of Mr Klower saying, "It's about time we got married," to which Ms Klower - still a young Miss Ryan at the time - replied, "Oh really?".

The couple were married in Burraga on February 7, 1951, with two priests. One as a witness and the other certifying the marriage.

The couple then began their family, with the first of their two children, Peter, being born in Burraga in 1951.

The family then moved to Goulburn where they welcomed a baby girl, Patricia, in 1953.

After moving back to Burraga, the family ended up living in Oberon for 30-odd years, where Ms Klower worked in hospitality, raised her family and continued to enjoy her favourite hobbies: horse riding, playing golf and often having a 'frisky whisky'.

Ms Klower loved her golf, and when the couple sold at Oberon and moved to Eglinton, she really flourished in the golf scene in Bathurst.

She made many wonderful friends playing golf once or twice a week, with her claim to fame being a hole-in-one on April 27, 2004.

Ms Klower enjoyed playing golf right up until the age of 90, until it was taken away by COVID.

And while she couldn't continue to play golf or ride horses during the later years of her life, she lived vicariously through her grandchildren.

She loved watching them compete at rodeos, whether it was on horseback, or the on back of a bull - watching her grandchildren and great-grandchildren is something that filled Ms Klower with joy.

After losing her husband of 58 years in 2009, Ms Klower remained very independent, paying all the bills, cooking, gardening and continuing to live at home and care for herself.

In June 2023 at the age of 94, Ms Klower's old hip replacement failed, and she faced the challenge of needing a new one.

Due to her age, the doctors were extremely concerned that she might not make it through the operation.

But in true Ms Klower fashion, it was no surprise that she made it through, and nothing was going to stop her from walking out of the hospital after 12 long weeks.

Then on March 12, 2024, with Ms Klower being very independent and trying to pull a dead rose from her garden, she had a fall and broke three ribs.

This led to her final hospital admission.

But she didn't let anything change her cheeky sense of humour, something she graced family, friends and hospital staff with.

Everyone spoke extremely highly of Ms Klower, who again surprised everyone with her determination to get better.

After three weeks she was finally given a date to go home - April 12.

She was so looking forward to that day, and the whole week she did everything she could and more to go home.

However, sadly, this didn't eventuate and Ms Klower died in hospital on April 19, 2024, the way she wanted to - in her sleep with her family beside her.

Friends and family said their final goodbyes at a beautiful service at the Cathedral of St Michael and St John on April 26, 2024.

Together, everyone shared their sadness as well as their joyous, funny memories of the loving, determined and witty 95-year-old firecracker they all knew and loved.

Ms Klower was very well respected in her community and by everyone who had the pleasure to meet her.

She is survived by her children: Peter and Pattie, grandchildren: Nicole, Tina, Terry and Jay, great-grandchildren: Zac, Brody, Tahlie, Storm, Beau and Nate, and her great-great-grandchildren Brodie, Riley, Zaidyn and Harlow.

And she was grandmother to Jodie and great-grandmother to Kirrilee, who sadly died before Ms Klower.