Love reforged
Louise and Stanley Aranga both now carry the memory of their ‘guardian angel’ in two bespoke pieces of jewellery, they tell Sharnae Hope.
A woman whose fiance died in a plane crash four years ago has repurposed her engagement ring for her and her new husband to wear.
Louise Aranga, 47, originally from England, thought she had found her soul mate, Paul Rawiri, six years ago after coming out of a devastating divorce months prior.
Four months before they were due to be married, however, he and his best friend died in a plane crash near Dargaville.
Now happily married in Cambridge three years on, Louise has remodelled Rawiri’s engagement ring to honour the ‘‘guardian angel’’ who brought them together.
Rawiri, 45, and his best friend Dean Voelkerling, 53, died in a light plane crash on a dairy farm at Poutō near Dargaville on January 1, 2018.
Voelkerling, an experienced rescue helicopter pilot, had taken Rawiri with him for a flight around Northland in his twoseater acrobatic plane.
While doing a manoeuvre, Voelkerling lost control and the plane started to ‘‘pitch nosedown’’, a Civil Aviation Authority report found.
Recording an airspeed descent of 244 knots, the pair died on impact as the plane broke into pieces.
The tragedy occurred 18 months after Louise and Rawiri were engaged.
Louise was left heartbroken. ‘‘It took a lot of counselling, alcohol and prescription medication to get over Paul,’’ Louise said.
‘‘But the last thing he said to me was that he loved me, and he died in a plane ride which is something he loved doing.
‘‘I did think, ‘god, I’m not going to get through this’, but I’ve got kids, so I had to.’’
Out of something bad, however, came something good.
As part of her healing process, Louise’s friend encouraged her to begin casually dating again.
She set up a tinder profile for
‘‘I did think, ‘god, I’m not going to get through this’, but I’ve got kids, so I had to.’’ Louise Aranga
her to ‘‘just have some fun’’.
At the time, Louise said it felt wrong to start dating again as it had only been three months since Rawiri died, but the ‘‘universe had other plans’’.
As she went into the app to delete it, the first match that popped up was Stanley Aranga.
A few months earlier, a mutual friend had tried to set her up with him at a wedding, but she had said no.
‘‘I felt drawn to Stan and didn’t know why.
‘‘It felt like it was meant to be because it was such a weird way to connect.’’
The two began dating and fell in love not along after she made the decision to swipe right.
Louise received a lot of judgement about her decision to begin a new relationship so quickly, but she said Rawiri’s death taught her not to take anything for granted.
A month later, Stanley proposed to Louise – the same day she and Rawiri were supposed to be married.
The lovebirds then tied the knot on November 9, 2018, six months later.
‘‘Stan always says that he believes Paul guided him to me, so when we got married a big part of our wedding was about Paul and the same woman who did Paul’s funeral did our wedding.’’
This year Louise decided to take the adoration a step further by remodelling Rawiri‘s engagement ring.
She had always treasured Rawiri’s engagement ring, but didn’t feel right wearing it after his death.
‘‘It was a lovely ring, but people would always point the ring out.
‘‘And then I’d have to tell them the story, and it would bring everything up again.’’
She entrusted local jeweller Geoff Taylor to create a statement piece that would reflect the good time with Rawiri and his ‘‘big, bold and beautiful’’ personality.
With a few diamonds left over, her husband then decided he wanted a piece of Rawiri too.
‘‘I am living proof that you can love again after a tragic death.’’