Danielle Lawrence follows in father’s footsteps
The couple also tied the knot in Italy in December last year and now lives two blocks from the home where the family used to stay.
Standerton is the kind of town where sons and daughters follow in their father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and Ms Danielle Lawrence is no exception.
The daughter of the well-known rugby umpire and optometrist of town, Mr Mark Lawrence, is back from Italy to use her diagnostic privilege qualifications from the University of Johannesburg in attending to the community’s needs.
“We were supposed to go back to Italy at the end of August,” Danielle said.
Reggio Emilia in Italy was where husband Nico developed his rugby skills to qualify for the Pro-14 team, but Nico was offered the opportunity to work in the lens laboratory of the business.
The couple also tied the knot in Italy in December last year and now lives two blocks from the home where the family used to stay. “You cry when you get to Standerton and cry when you leave,” said Mark who contributed enthusiastically to the interview.
His own schedule is rather hectic involving a week in Standerton, a weekend in Durban, a week in Cape Town, a weekend in Durban and back to Standerton for a week.
Danielle’s career choice seemed to have happened naturally.
“He was such a good example, sitting here in the consultation rooms and making it look so nice, so I decided to go for it.”
Danielle and Nico met at UJ and both stayed in residences, Skoonveld and Bastion respectively.
She took on a four-year-optometry-course and he planned on being a legal eagle and has completed three years of studies.
She spread her wings somewhat by getting involved in the pharmaceutical repping business for a year, after working for two optometrists in Johannesburg.
“It broadened her horizons,” Mark added.
The optometrist genealogy dates back to a great-grandmother, Hilda, who first worked in Cape Town, grandfather, Gerald, who began the business in Standerton in 1954 and
Mark taking over the reins in 1987.
This former head girl of Hoërskool Standerton and her father good-naturedly disagreed whether she is called Lawrence Du Plessis with or without a hyphen.
That which she got in with the mother’s milk, has been the decisive factors in this young woman’s life.
