Even as a child, Zoe Walker impressed others with her determination and grit – to persevere, to fight for what she wanted, and to do it for herself as much as for the people she loved.
It was what got her out of bed each morning: running her own painting business against the odds for almost 20 years. Her father, Robert Walker, said it was tough at the best of times, but especially of late, and particularly for a woman in the trade.
Zoe Walker, who was found dead on Sunday, aged 38.
“She struggled with her trade from the very get-up and go, but she had so much determination and [capacity for] self-sacrifice,” Robert told The Age.
“She said to me [that] she gets up every morning to go to work because of her house and her beloved [kelpie Raven].”
Zoe’s attitude to life got her through the death of her brother, Tyson, too.
He was her only sibling, and the two were extremely close, her father said. Tyson took his own life in 2016, and Zoe had his name tattooed on her in his memory.
Zoe’s sudden death is now the second in her family in a decade, after her body was found at her home in Melbourne’s outer-east on Sunday morning. Police arrested her partner at the home, and have since charged him with her murder.
“She struggled along since she was a teenager. It wasn’t an easy ride, but she was just determined,” Robert said.
“If she had something, she was going to hang onto it, and she was independent – that was the most important thing for her.”
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