Khanya Hospice CEO, Neil McDonald and his wife, Pamela celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this month.
The couple was married in the Penticostal Protestant Church in Northmead, Benoni on 11 October, 1974 by Pastor George Snyman and Pastor Chum Oosthuizen.
Neil is originally from Brakpan and Pam from Johannesburg. She has been working for a urologist at Parklands Hospital for over 28 years.
“We actually met at church,” said Neil. “When Pam walked in as a 14-year-old teenager and saw this man behind the organ, she said to her sister “wow that is a good-looking uncle”. I was the organist at that time and 40 years later, she is still with the ‘uncle’.
Their wedding was attended by over 1,000 people on a Friday evening and the reception was in the Brakpan town hall.
“When I arrived at the church, people were standing at the windows looking in,” said Pam.
It was a kind of custom that someone sang to the bridal couple, but instead Neil and Pam arranged with the organist to sing a duet. “This was a great surprise to everyone there.”
The couple has been blessed with two boys and a girl and five grandchildren.
