My Mr Right Here At Last

Magda found love in her seventies when she started a conversation with widower Francois in church

- Jaco Hough-Coetzee

IT ALL began with a whisper in church – a quick question to a guy sitting in the same pew.

Little did she realise it would be the first step that would set them on course for the altar. And making it all the more special is the fact that Magda van Rooyen had given up hope of ever finding lasting love.

The 77-year-old retired maths teacher had led a full life and was living contentedly in a Bloemfontein retirement home.

But life has wonderful ways of taking you by surprise – and in this case it came in the form of Francois Pretorius (74).

They’ve been married for a week when they welcome us into their home at Noorderbloem retirement village.

Magda used to see Francois out and about in the village, where he settled after the death of his wife in 2011.

Although they greeted each other “we didn’t really take much notice of each other”, says Francois, who was deputy head of the Free State provincial traffic department.

Then one Sunday in 2015 everything changed. Francois was seated next to Magda in church and she decided to find out more about him.