The boyfriend of a 21-year-old Scottish college student who died in a car crash in Ireland had been planning to propose to her over the holidays, a funeral service revealed.
Police said Chloe Hipson, from Lanarkshire, was one of five people who died in a two-car collision on Ardee Road near Dundalk, County Louth, on Nov. 15.
A funeral for Hipson, who was studying at Dundalk Institute of Technology, was held at Daldowie crematorium near Glasgow on Tuesday, Dec. 2, according to Irish newspaper The Journal and broadcaster RTE.
At the service, Reverend Peter Davidge shared that Hipson’s boyfriend, AJ, had intended to ask her to marry him on Christmas Eve, the outlets reported.
AJ had already approached Hipson’s father and brother to ask for their blessing, Davidge said, calling the gesture “a lovely, gentlemanly and courteous thing to do,” according to The Irish Times.
Hipson met her boyfriend in 2024 during a trip with friends to Ibiza, Spain, The Irish Times reported. In April 2025, she moved to Ireland with AJ, who is from the area, along with her dog, Poppy.
Davidge said Hipson “fell in love” with Ireland and was “thriving” and “happy” in her new life there, according to The Journal and RTE.
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“I think everyone spoke of Chloe as the most perfect person in the family,” the reverend said. “She never argued with anyone, she just got on with life.”
Also killed in the Nov. 15 crash, according to police, were 23-year-old Chloe McGee and 21-year-old Shay Duffy, both from Carrickmacross, as well as 23-year-old Alan McCluskey of Drumconrath and 23-year-old Dylan Commins of Ardee.
“We, today here in Scotland, think of all their families. And of those beautiful young people,” Davidge told mourners at Hipson’s funeral, The Journal reported.
An Garda Síochána (Ireland’s national police service) Superintendent Charlie Armstrong previously said that two people in the second vehicle — a man and a woman — were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“I want to express my condolences and sympathies and the sympathies of every member of An Garda Síochána to the families of the five adults who lost their lives yesterday evening in this road traffic collision,” Armstrong said the day after the crash.
