A couple experienced a heartwarming act of kindness from a celebrity during a shopping trip.
In 2004, Kyle and Kristen Upham, who had recently gotten engaged, were in Santa Barbara looking for a ring at a jewelry store.
While they were browsing, another customer started assisting them with their selection.
Kyle was scheduled for a second deployment to Iraq, and they wanted to choose something meaningful before his departure.
The stranger in the store looked at rings with them, unaware of his identity.
In a 2013 interview with CBS, Kyle shared, “I noticed there was someone else in there, but didn’t give it much thought, and we started looking at rings and whatnot, and he kept saying, ‘Go bigger’ and I kept saying, ‘No, look at the prices.’”
Although they left without buying anything, the couple soon received a delightful surprise.
Unbeknownst to them at that moment, the mysterious shopper was actually Paul Walker, known for the Fast and Furious franchise.
“When we were talking, we exchanged names and talked about what each of us did,” Kyle mentioned, while Kristen recalled: “And when he found out Kyle just came back from Iraq — I remember seeing the look in his face, he kind of transformed.”
After leaving the store, they received a call asking them to return.
Kristen recounted: “One of the ladies came out holding a bag and just said, ‘Here’s your ring.’ I think both of our mouths dropped.”
She continued: “It’s still to this day the most generous thing anyone has ever done for me.”
The couple initially surmised that the store’s staff pooled together to gift them the ring, later recalling the mysterious shopper, Paul Walker.
Their assumptions were validated when a store employee disclosed the truth to CBS.
Irene King, who was working that day, remembered a co-worker informing her that Paul Walker was present when Kyle and Kristen were looking at rings.
“She saw something that she really, really liked, but he said, ‘Honey, I can’t afford that,'” King explained to CBS in 2013.
“He [Walker] called the manager and he said, ‘Umm, the ring that those people are looking at – put it on my tab.’ Soon after that, he just left,” she added.
The store maintained the anonymity of the gift for a decade, telling Kyle and Kristen it was an anonymous present.
Kyle, Kristen, and King shared the story following Walker’s tragic passing in a car accident in 2013.
“When we hand down the ring through the generations, there will always be a story to tell,” Kyle stated.
“His real life speaks volumes of his character,” Kristen said. “He really did put his money where his mouth is and did good for this world.”