When Georgie Copeland’s fiancé Lachlan Proctor died just before Christmas 2020, she didn’t think she’d find love again, but she did: with Zach Bray.
Tragically, however, Bray was one of 10 people who died in the Hunter Valley bus crash in New South Wales in June 2023, and his world was shattered again.
In a new Darling, Shine! podcast Introduced by her friend Ellidy Pullin, who also knew the pain of her beloved partner’s death, Ms Copeland spoke about the moment she learned of Mr Bray’s tragic death.
As she and Zach had just gotten back together after some time apart, she wasn’t at the wedding at the Wandin Estate in Lovedale, but found out in a horrifying way that he was one of the victims.
On the podcast, Copeland said his mother asked him in a phone call if he had heard about the wedding bus that had crashed in the Hunter Valley.
His response was that he just knew: “Zach was on that bus.”
When Georgie Copeland’s fiancé died at age 30 just before Christmas 2020, she didn’t think she’d find love again — but she did, with Zach Bray.
Zach Bray (pictured) was one of 10 people killed in the Hunter Valley bus crash in New South Wales in June 2023, and Georgie Copeland’s world was shattered again.
Mrs. Copeland was planning her wedding to her fiancé, Mr. Proctor, and they were discussing how many children they hoped to have.
But he died from complications after a serious accident on December 4, 2020, at just 30 years old.
She became suicidal and attempted to take her own life, but after spending time at a private health facility in Byron Bay, northern New South Wales, she met Mr Bray.
The couple had some ups and downs, but in June 2023 they were back together.
“We had this beautiful date organized, it was going to be a big romantic meeting… it was going to be something very big and we were very excited,” he said.
“I had a wedding I was going to the weekend before, in the Hunter Valley, so our date was the following weekend.”
She told Pullin’s podcast that she helped Mr Bray prepare for the wedding. “He was talking to me on Facetime… and I was literally dressing him for the wedding,” she said.
He sent her videos of himself on the dance floor and they texted all night, and then she went to bed.
The next morning, Monday, there was no message from Zach.
‘That was really weird because he’s like one of those guys who texts you ‘Good morning’ and lets you know they’re thinking about you. It’s nice.’
At noon, she still hadn’t heard from him and thought he must be hungover after a big night of partying.
He called his mother to explain how happy he was with his life. His mother replied: ‘You’re absolutely right, you’re absolutely right… there are so many bad things that happen in this world.
Have you heard about that terrible accident in the Hunter Valley?
Police inspect an overturned bus near the town of Greta following a crash in the Hunter Valley that killed 10 people.
Ellidy Pullin (pictured) interviewed Georgie Copeland about grief in her book Darling, Shine! podcast
Georgie replied: “I said, ‘What?’ And she said, ‘Oh, there was a wedding bus,’ and I just stopped. I said, ‘Mom, what are you talking about?’
Copeland said she realized the terrible news immediately and told her mother, “Zach was on that bus.”
‘I just knew it. I just knew it.
When he got home he started calling Mr Bray’s phone, which rang, but there was no answer.
‘I didn’t know if his family knew that we were together again, that we were starting over. I didn’t know what they knew, but I knew something was wrong and I called his mother.
“And Jackie answered and she was crying and she and her brother were driving towards Singleton (in the Hunter Valley) and she was so shocked that I was calling her because she didn’t know whether to call me or not,” he said. .
Copeland said Zach’s mother knew the couple was back together, “but she also knows what happened to me in the past.”
He said he felt the same feelings again that he had had after Mr Proctor’s death.
‘I will never understand the senselessness of how people’s lives can be taken from them like that. Beautiful and good people,’ she said.
‘I felt so lost and went back to a very dark place. I thought, “I’m cursed.” I also thought, excuse my language: “Who the hell is going to want to date this girl?”
‘I don’t come with luggage, I come with a suitable briefcase. I got a lot of shit,’ he told the podcast.
He traveled abroad to help deal with the tragedy. “I started saying yes to everything. Life is short, tomorrow is not promised.
“You go to bed in a moment, you wake up and anything can happen.”
Georgie Copeland is pictured with her fiancé Lachlan Proctor, who died in December 2020.
Zach Bray (right), one of 10 people killed in the 2023 Hunter Valley bus crash, is pictured with his father, Adam.
Despite everything that has happened, Mrs. Copeland is happy.
‘If I die tomorrow, I know I’m happy, because I actually take everything as a form of gratitude. I’m very lucky.
‘I’m lucky to have been loved by Lachie Proctor. I’m lucky to have met Zach Bray. I’m very lucky. I’m not cursed. “I’m the luckiest human being in the world,” he said.
‘I want people to know how far someone can go. I’m not special, I’m like anyone else. Terrible things have just happened to me, like other people.
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