<p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-723031">Tara Welch Gallagher, Virginia Beach victim Tara Welch Gallagher, Virginia Beach victim

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – 39-year-old Tara Welch Gallagher, a Virginia Beach woman, worked as an engineer with the Virginia Beach Public Works Department.

Gallagher had been with the department for six years.

She was also a graduate of Tidewater Community College.

TCC said she grew up in the Simonsdale section of Portsmouth, and came to TCC directly from Wilson High School. She graduated with her Associate of Science in Engineering in May 2000 before transferring to Old Dominion for her bachelor’s in civil engineering and master’s in environmental engineering.

“She was a great TCC success story,” said her brother-in-law, Troy Hollowell to TCC. He was also an alumnus of the college and long-standing committee member of TCC’s Information Technology advisory board. “She was a woman in STEM before we were using that phrase. She was a mother, a sister, a daughter, and possibly the best person I have ever known.”

Hollowell married Gallagher’s sister, Tiffany, and told TCC the two siblings spoke daily. “She was an amazing lady and a doting mother,” Hollowell said. “I don’t have the words for the loss.”

Gallagher is survived by her husband, Patrick, and their 22-month-old son, Patrick III.

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Visitation and Funeral Mass details

Visitation June 7, 2019, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Baker-Foster Funeral Home

5685 Lee Farm Lane

Suffolk, VA 23435

Funeral Mass

June 8, 2019, from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Church of the Holy Family

1279 N. Great Neck Rd

Virginia Beach, VA

Burial

June 8, 2019, from 1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Olive Branch Cemetery

2 Cpl. J. M. Williams Ave

Portsmouth, Virginia

To share your memories of Tara Welch Gallagher, email us at takingaction@wtkr.com.