Perth mum-of-two and nurse Eve McKee, who died of cancer aged 36, was ‘like sunshine’

Eve McKee was a devoted mum, described by her teenage daughter as “like sunshine”.

The charge nurse from Perth, who had two children, Alexis, 15, and 21-month-old son Evir, was only 36 when she died of cancer.

Eve, who worked in the Rohallion Secure Care Clinic of Murray Royal Hospital, was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2016, just four months after she married Euan McKee.

Her treatment was initially successful.

Making memories during her final months

However, she was told in May last year that the cancer had returned and was incurable.

She and her family tried to make as many memories as they could during the time Eve had left, including short trips.

But Eve passed away on June 29 in Cornhill Macmillan Centre.

Euan, 39, said: “She’s left such a big hole in everyone’s lives.”

Born Eve Murphy in Glasgow in 1987, she spent the first few years of her life in Kirkintilloch, her late father Patrick Murphy’s home town.

When she was five she and her mother Tricia Judge moved in with her gran in Perth, where Tricia was from.

Eve went to St John’s Primary School then St Columba’s High School, which is now St John’s RC Academy.

Lanzarote adventure

When she left school she worked in the Loose Threads shop in Perth for a couple of years before her sense of adventure and love of travel lured her overseas.

Eve went with a friend to Lanzarote, unaware the friend was planning to stay only two weeks.

Eve stayed on for a year, finding a job in an Irish bar in Costa Teguise.

On her return her brother Patrick told her they were looking for staff at Perth Concert Hall, where he was head chef.

Taken on, she quickly rose to become supervisor.

And it was while working there that she met Euan.

Eve had gone off on maternity leave to have daughter Alexis in the summer of 2008 and when she returned Euan had started working as a barman.

They got together after a kiss at a works’ night out.

In 2010 Eve started studying nursing at Dundee University, also working as a nursing assistant at Murray Royal Hospital.

She graduated as a registered mental health nurse two years later and continued working at the Perth hospital. She was a popular member of staff and devoted to her work.

It was the same humanist celebrant, Neil Anderson, who married Eve and Euan in October 2015 that conducted her funeral on July 15.

Mourners were asked to wear Eve’s favourite colour black. But her love of black clothing belied her colourful nature.

‘Didn’t try to be funny, she just was”

She had a radiant personality. She was described as direct and brutally honest but always totally reliable, dependable and loyal.

Eve had a wicked, sarcastic and slightly dark sense of humour. Her family said she “didn’t try to be funny, she just was”.

A music lover, she was a huge fan of bands including T Rex, Abba, Blondie and Arctic Monkeys.

And she liked a good party, indulging in the occasional margarita or gin and tonic.

Eve loved her chihuahua, Bowie. She was a keen cook.

The travel bug Eve caught in her youth during her Lanzarote adventure continued into family life, with trips to the likes of Fuerteventura, Bulgaria and Tunisia.

As well as Euan, Alexis and Evir, Eve leaves behind mum Tricia, brother Patrick, aunts Jack and Myra and niece Niamh.