Josh and Maja will be sorely missed by family and friends. Photo / Bronwyn Gardner
Josh and Maja will be sorely missed by family and friends. Photo / Bronwyn Gardner
The devastated families of a young Hawke's Bay couple tragically killed in a crash on State Highway 5 say the pair of them "stole the hearts of everyone they met".
Maja Eve Sanders, 20, and Josh Tom van Hooijdonk, 19, died in the two-vehicle crash on the Napier-Taupo Rd at Te Pohue on May 16.
A woman in her 50s also injured in the crash remained in a critical condition in Hawke's Bay Hospital on Wednesday.
Mother of Maja, Rhonda Sanders, and mother of Josh, Bronwyn Gardner, told Hawke's Bay Today they were grateful for the time the in-love pair got to spend together.
Rhonda said her daughter Maja was a "free spirited young lady with a kind and caring heart.
"She had just turned 20 years of age and was so happy to no longer be classed as a teenager.
"She had a bright smile and infectious laugh. Maja had such a determination to be the best that she could be, with whatever she strived to do."
Maja's schooling started at Whangarei Heads Primary (Northland) and in 2006 the family moved to Hawke's Bay where she attended Parkvale Primary, Hastings Intermediate and Karamu High School.
"She received scholarship to EIT where she was studying fine arts," Rhonda said.
"It was at EIT that she met the love of her life, Josh. We are so grateful that she got to experience a love like theirs.
"No words can describe the loss that we are all feeling at this time. We are comforted with the thought that Maja and Josh are now together forever, but they both will be so deeply missed by us all."
Josh's mother Bronwyn Gardner told Hawke's Bay Today their "beloved son" was "kind and caring, an honest, loyal and a genuinely kind soul".
"Josh was my first born and has been the light of my life ever since.
"He was 19 years old and life was just beginning. He had a massive passion for and a great eye for photography, he loved his sport Taekwondo, and was a whizz in the kitchen.
Josh was Hawke's Bay born and bred and went to Puketapu Primary School, St Matthews Primary School and St Johns College.
Two people died and a woman remains in a critical condition following a crash between two vehicles on State Highway 5 near Te Pohue on Saturday afternoon. Photo / Geoff Martin
In 2018 he was a recipient of a Hastings Heretaunga Lions Club Young Achievers Award.
"Like Maja he also received a Year 13 Scholarship to EIT and was half way through a Bachelor in Creative Practice," she said.
"This is where Josh met Maja and we are forever grateful for the time they got to spend together. Such a beautiful couple, they immediately stole the hearts of everyone they met. Maja was well loved by Josh's family and the two will be desperately missed."
Bronwyn said Josh had so much potential he would never get a chance to share with the world and "there were so many more memories he should have been able to make too".
"I feel exceptionally grateful to have got to know Maja over the past year. She too was an absolute delight. They were so cute together and completed each other. She easily found a place in my heart and so this loss is even more keenly felt.
"They recently moved into a flat in front of our house and we have spent hours together during lockdown with them in our bubble. For that time I will forever be eternally grateful.
"The thought of not sharing my life with them is tearing me apart. I feel lost without them."
