Tributes continue to flow for Melissa Mahia Avison, 27, whose life was cut short when she lost control of her car on a sweeping bend on Ruahapia Rd last Thursday and crashed into a power pole.
The bubbly young woman could light up a room with her smile, she had a good heart and enriched the lives of everyone she met, close family friend and former employer Graham Marchant said.
Family and friends turned out in their hundreds to celebrate her zest for life at a funeral service at Beth Shan Chapel in Napier yesterday.
"There were so many people there they couldn't fit inside, they were standing out the door," Mr Marchant said.
"The music she came in to was Only the Good Die Young. There was another [song] played and her brother and sister and mother got up and had a bit of a dance."