The passing of Gale Pullen-Foster

Yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 13 May 2026, after a short illness, our friend Gale Pullen-Foster passed away in Naas Hospital, writes Dorly O'Sullivan. Coming from Cape Town in 2002 for a sabbatical, she joined the Kildare Steiner School. She ended up being the strength and pillar of the school for twenty years as a teacher and as a volunteer, even after her retirement. 

She carried the Steiner impulse strongly and beautifully for all these years. Gale had a great impact on many of our young people, and indeed on their parents. She allowed her pupils to develop and blossom and to discover themselves. She gave support and strength to their parents. Gale was an inspirational teacher who knew how to get the best out of her pupils. She was strict, but kind and gentle. Teaching was her life. The children and the parents loved and respected her. 

For the last twenty years, she lived on the O’Sullivan Farm, across the field from the Steiner School. She became an important part of family life. She was always there to lend an ear to anyone who needed it, she beautified the ground by attending lovingly to her garden, attracting birds of many kinds and filling it with flowers of many colours, to attract bees and butterflies. She also took a keen interest in the biodiversity of the farm, helping to plant hedgerows and trees. 

Gale was a very talented artist. It was a gift she freely shared with pupils and friends. Gale painted many beautiful pictures and had a great talent for Celtic patterns. She painted the wall behind the tabernacle in Gormanstown church some years ago using beautiful Celtic patterns. 

My eldest son said this about Gale: Gale had a beautiful, gentle, and high-minded spirit. She was a cultured lady who delighted in the bullfinches, tits, blackbirds, starlings, and robins that visited her garden, tending every corner of it with great care and attention. She had a deep appreciation for beauty and aesthetics, and she was simply lovely to be around — I always felt at ease in her company. She carried a lasting sense of wonder and curiosity throughout her life. 

Rest in peace, Gale.

(Funeral arrangements will be published later.)