Paul Walker Secretly Paid For Engagement Ring That Iraq Veteran Couldn’t Afford

Paul Walker is being remembered as one of Hollywood’s true “good guys,” and in the days after his tragic death it’s becoming clear that it’s more than just kind words and empty praise.

A picture is emerging of a star who quietly devoted himself to a number of causes, creating charitable organizations and supporting fundraisers while never drawing attention to himself.

But one story from a Santa Barbara jeweler tops them all. A sales associate named Irene King shared a story of her encounter with Paul Walker from several years ago, one that took place when he came in to her store around the holiday season.

King said a co-worker nudged her and point Paul out when he entered the store.

“Oh, OK, yeah,” King recounted to CBS Los Angeles. “I said, ‘Yeah, he’s a nice-looking man.’ ”

As Walker checked out the jewelry, a soldier who had just returned from his first tour of duty in Iraq was also there looking at engagement rings with his fiancee.

“She saw something that she really, really liked, but he said, ‘Honey, I can’t afford that,’” King recalled.

What the woman looked at was a $10,000 engagement set, King noted.

Paul Walker also heard the couple, and quietly got the attention of a store manager.

“He called the manager and he said, ‘Umm, the ring that those people are looking at – put it on my tab,’” King remembered. “Soon after that, he just left.”

When the couple asked who had picked up the tab, the store told them it was an anonymous gift. Walker never stepped forward to take credit and didn’t need to be thanked for his act, but King said she wanted people to know what he was truly like.

Those who have been touched by Walker’s charity work likely already knew how big theFast and the Furious star’s heart was. Paul Walker was a dedicated supporter to a host of causes, including the Billfish Foundation, and even started his own organization to respond to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

And somewhere, there’s a married couple that has Paul Walker to thank for their dream engagement rings.