The couple met in Queenstown in 2012, while they were both looking for adventure - she from her native Alaska and he, from Auckland, who was never happy being still, and ready to tackle nature head on.
Mr Hale, 22, was killed last Thursday when he was struck in the head by an object that smashed through the windscreen while he was driving with Ms Oylear, 26, near Wanaka. She grabbed the steering wheel and managed to get his foot off the accelerator to stop the Subaru station wagon.
Yesterday, she spoke directly to him in an emotional tribute.
"You told me to love life and to live fully ... and to chase your dreams."
He had shown her how to "open my eyes" to the world around them by the way he embraced life and lived for each moment.
"You enjoyed life just like you wanted it to be." Even though they were now apart, she would now see him "in every moment".
Their initial meeting in the Queenstown bar came about after Mr Hale delayed a tramp as he waited for news about an ill friend.
They later worked in and explored Tasmania, flew to the United States and travelled through Canada to Ms Oylear's home in Alaska.
Mr Hale's grandmother Marilyn Matthew said "he was an amazing young man" whose life had been cut short far too soon. "It's not supposed to happen like this."
About 150 mourners at the Manukau Memorial Gardens heard that the couple had been back in New Zealand only a short time but had found jobs, and there was talk of a wedding.
Mr Hale's mother Lisa said she was "humbled I got to share my life with you". She spoke of his love of the outdoors that was never far away and began when he was a young boy, walking with her "for miles" while she was pregnant with his sister Raven.
A favourite saying was printed on the back of his service sheet: "Learn to do what you want to do. Live your dreams, make them a reality, take them from the place of imaginings and into the world of happenings."
- Andrew Koubaridis
