Valerie was born at home in East Ord, Northumberland, England on May 9, 1936, the treasured only child of Charles William and Winifred McGregor until her sister Sue was born 14 years later. She spent her early years in East Ord, where her father was the school principal, enjoying being within bicycling distance of her father’s family in the seaside resort of Berwick-on-Tweed. After WW2 ended the family moved to Newcastle-on-Tyne, where her mother’s family lived, and she completed secondary school. Val enjoyed sports and drama but she was also academically gifted, especially in languages. She won a scholarship to the best girls’ school in Newcastle, the Central High. Her parents thought she would be unable to go on to university because they couldn’t afford it, but they needn’t have worried because Val went on to win another scholarship, this time to study French and Spanish at St Andrew’s University in Scotland. Her tutors there were so impressed that they chose Val to be one of the very few students to spend a term abroad studying at the University of Salamanca in Spain. It was at St Andrew’s that she met a handsome (and persistent) young medical student from Gateshead, across the Tyne river from Newcastle, named Alan Gale. To the delight of both families they became engaged in 1956 and married on August 4,1958, after she received her University degree. Alan practiced in South Shields, near both their families, for the next several years, then decided to take the family on a great adventure and move to Canada. On June 25, 1963 they arrived in Toronto as landed immigrants with their two children, Pamela (3) and Michael (2), and first settled in Melfort, SK. The family moved north to Nipawin, SK on April 1, 1964, where Alan joined the Nipawin Medical Group and two more children, David and Carol, arrived to complete the family.

Valerie was a busy mother but also very involved in the community, serving on various town boards, joining sports clubs (notably, the Prince Albert Sailing Club), volunteering with various charities, and becoming famous (or infamous) as a member of the amateur singing group The Hillbillies. Her years of volunteer experience saw her become the volunteer coordinator for the Nipawin area, which evolved into a paid volunteer coordinator position. Subsequently she used her enviable social skills as a Home Care Assessor. Her sense of humour was always foremost, entertaining all those around her and helping to smooth the path through many of life’s challenges, including caring for Alan after he became disabled in the 1980s, and recovering from a stroke herself in 2011. After Alan died in 2008 she began travelling farther afield, first to visit family in England and then to escape the cold winters of Saskatchewan by visiting Carol’s family in Maple Ridge, BC and Pam’s family in Lethbridge, AB. Summers saw most of her family meeting at Emma Lake, some of them now also members of the PA Sailing Club. Having joined in 1965, she had a final holiday there in the summer of 2025, missing only one summer (2024), due to a broken bone. The years in Nipawin were full of good works, good experiences and good friends. When, finally, she needed more support than was available locally she moved to Lethbridge and spent her final five years living with Pam’s family.

Valerie is survived by daughter Pam (Larry, Colin, Elizabeth), son Michael (Connie), their sons Brian (Marcie, Rory, Reese) and Matthew (Tammy, Tegan, Natalie), son David, daughter Carol (Tom, Owen, Olivia), sister Sue (Len) and their children and grandchildren. She is predeceased by her husband Alan and granddaughter Daphne (Pam and Larry).

A private family service will be held at a later date. Cremation entrusted to Cornerstone Funeral Home.