A joyous vacation turned tragic for a Denver couple this week, when Emily May Harper, 27, became ill while swimming with dolphins Tuesday in New Zealand’s Tory Channel.
She died on the 40-minute boat trip back to shore.
Just the night before, her boyfriend, Matthew Hawkins, 28, proposed while the couple walked around a moonlit harbor. She accepted.
Harper had been swimming with dolphins off a tour boat with other people Tuesday, then was spotted floating face down in the water.
She was pulled aboard and Hawkins and his mother helped with CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation during efforts to save her, he told the New Zealand Herald newspaper.
Reached by e-mail, Hawkins said he would remain in New Zealand until his fiancee’s body is released and they can make the trip home together next week.
The cause of Harper’s death is being investigated, he said. The initial coroner’s report said it might have been cardiac arrest.
“There is no criminal investigation at this time, nor is one anticipated,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said he proposed marriage on the spur of the moment Monday night as the couple walked on Picton Harbor.
She replied, “Yes, absolutely,” he told the New Zealand Herald.
Hawkins, Harper, his mother and brother sailed out on the dolphin-watching tour the next morning. He had stayed aboard when his fiancee eagerly lined up to go in the water, the first person to be in line, he told the newspaper.
“She was so excited, she really was,” he said. “She loved animals, she loved wildlife, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Harper had no known health problems and was a competent swimmer, he said.
She had recently been laid off as a medical-claims technician, and she was looking for a new job. She graduated from Douglas County High School and attended the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley before finishing college at the University of Illinois, where she studied psychology, Hawkins said.
“Her passion was for books and education,” Hawkins said by e-mail. “She wanted to find a job as a librarian.”
They had known each other for 14 years, since they attended Castle Rock Middle School, he said.
“We were friends long before we were dating, and remained in contact of some form since that day,” Hawkins e-mailed.
They shared an apartment in Capitol Hill with their cats, he said.
“It was a quiet life, comfortable and happy,” he said.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
