Funerals of drowned honeymoon couple to be held in church where they wed

The funerals of two Co. Down honeymooners who drowned in South Africa will take place in the church where they married.

John Rodgers, 28, and his wife Lynette, 26, died last month after getting caught in a rip tide at Plettenberg Bay.

The tragedy unfolded just six days after the couple walked down the aisle in Co Down.

Mrs Rodgers (nee Reilly) was an NHS physiotherapist from Holywood who friends described as kind and compassionate.

Mr Rodgers, a popular and enthusiastic engineering graduate from Ballygowan, worked for an office equipment company in Belfast.

He was discovered in shallow surf on Robberg Beach by a local man at around 6pm on Friday October 23, South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.

His wife’s body was found about 200 yards away along the same beach, the NSRI said.

Doctors performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the couple but they were pronounced dead at the scene.

The couple tied the knot in front of family and friends at the First Presbyterian Church in the bride’s home-town of Holywood on October 24. Today their funeral will be held there.