A jet boat accident on the Matukituki River, Wanaka where Paul Woods was killed on boxing day, 2008. Photo / Cedric Hurring
A receipt for an engagement ring was found among the belongings of Paul Woods, the doctor killed in a jetboat accident on the Matukituki River, near Wanaka, on Boxing Day, his partner told a service of thanksgiving in Dunedin yesterday.
Dr Leanne Tonney had her finger measured for
an engagement ring late last year but she was unaware, until after Dr Woods' death, that a ring had been bought.
Dr Tonney, in an open letter read at the service at the Dunedin Hospital Chapel, said the couple had hoped to marry and have children.
"We will never give life to a new life together ... You would have been an amazing dad," she said. "Goodbye sweetie."
It was standing room only for many of the several hundred people as they paid tribute to Dr Woods, 29, before his body is returned to family in England.
Mourners, many dressed in surgical scrubs, heard tributes about Dr Woods' medical career, his love of the outdoors and passion for the Everton Football Club.
His zest for life was summarised by one of his favourite T-shirts, which read "Life - For a limited period only".
His brother, Neil, who had travelled from England to take the body back, said Dr Woods was like a light and he hoped it would continue to burn for those who knew him.
