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Loyola Galvin (May 1922– ) is a Catholic sister who started Still-Born Support in the Hutt hospital in 1988. She is best known for her Wellington Home of Compassion garden, for which she was named "New Zealand Gardener of the Year" in 2008. The garden provided organic produce to those in need. In 2013 Sr Loyola featured in the popular documentary Gardening with Soul.

Early years
Sister Loyola Galvin was born in May 1922 in Hawera, New Zealand. When Galvin was three, she had an accident that seriously damage her left ankle, leading to her developing osteomyelitis by the age of 10. This resulting hospital stays and 4 years of treatment created a desire to become a nurse.

Her first application to begin nursing training in 1941 was declined due to her medical history. She applied two years later, with a recommendation from Dr Doris Gordon. Galvin tells the story that due to trouble breaking out in the Japanese Prisoner of War camp in Featherston, all the available doctors who could do her medical exam were needed to deal with the casualties. The only available doctor gave her a cursory check before he left to attend the injured at Featherston. He did not look at her foot or read her notes. She was given medical clearance and began training in Wellington in 1943. She nursed for two years in Wellington, and transferred to Hawera.

Sisters of Compassion
Drawn to caring for disabled children, Sr Loyola joined the Home of Compassion in Wellington as a postulant in 1947. Sr Loyola was principally based in Island Bay for her first 10 years caring for babies and children. During this time she also did some work with geriatrics. She moved to Australia in 1957 and worked with children in Broken Hill, and geriatrics in Wagga Wagga. Galvin returned to New Zealand in 1963, continuing her work with children as well as caring for unmarried mothers.

Still-Born Support
In 1979 she took over as the chaplain for three months at Wellington Hospital. After these three months, Sr Loyola decide to undertake the chaplaincy training, and became the full time chaplaincy position at the Hutt Hospital. While at the Hutt hospital, she established Still-Born Support together with three mothers and a midwife. Beginning in the Hutt Hospital in 1988, Still-Born Support is now a New Zealand wide organisation. Among the services Still-Born Support offered are providing caskets, support for parents, and educative initiatives in the health profession.

Sr Loyola ended her chaplaincy at the Hutt hospital in 1995 after 14 years as Chaplin.

Island Bay garden
Sr Loyola took up gardening in her 70s. The garden provided organic produce to those in need and taught visitors how to compost. Her commitment to gardening saw Sr Loyola being awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for Community Services in 1996.

She was also named "NZ Gardener of the Year" in 2008, NZ Gardener Magazine’s annual accolade recognizing NZ’s unsung horticultural heroes who use their passion for gardening to give back to the community. The award recognised her work establishing a Common Ground Community Gardening scheme on an area of lawn at the Home of Compassion for allotment-style gardens for people in the area with no land to grow food. In 2013 Sr Loyola featured in the popular documentary Gardening with Soul. The garden was bulldozed in 2016.

In later years Sr Loyola developed an enthusiasm for conservation, and with Forest and Bird she regularly contributed her efforts to the re-forestation programme of Matiu / Somes Island. There is a permanent portrait of her in the Wellington Portrait Gallery.