KEY POINTS:
A 13-year-old boy from Hamilton is being cared for by family and friends after his parents were killed in a head-on collision near Huntly.
The boy's 27-year-old brother has joined him from the Philippines for the funeral today of their parents, Pacita Yusores San Juan, 51, a Waikato Hospital nurse, and her husband Virgilio Tungala De Dios, 57, who reportedly worked at the Gallagher Group.
The clinical nurse manager at Waikato Hospital's ward four, Carolynne Gill, said ward staff would miss Mrs San Juan, who joined the Waikato District Health Board in 2002.
"She had a wonderful smile - it lit up her face - and she had a really, really wicked sense of humour."
Ward four is a small unit with only 13 beds and a close-knit staff who were all feeling the loss, Ms Gill said.
The couple's funeral will be held at the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Hamilton East this morning.
Six other people were injured in last Tuesday's crash, including a woman, 40, who is in intensive care and another, 47, who is reportedly in a stable condition in the high-dependency unit.
- NZPA
