The couple, who celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary this weekend, were introduced when Mr McNally (81) went with tonsilitis to Oamaru Hospital, where his future bride was working as a nurse.
He later asked her to a Lodge ball at Enfield and still remembered the date: August 6, 1947.
And while Mrs McNally (82) laughed that she was the second choice to accompany him, her husband declared that was not true.
A courtship followed and the couple were married at St Paul's Presbyterian Church, in Oamaru, on June 27, 1950 ("it rained like hell all day" Mr McNally recalled), followed by a reception at the Star and Garter.
They spent their honeymoon in Christchurch and on the West Coast before returning to the McNally family farm at Windsor, where Mr McNally had been brought up.
The couple farmed there until shifting to Oamaru in 1982.
Farm life was new to Mrs McNally (nee Badcock), the daughter of a minister, but she enjoyed the rural lifestyle.
"It was a great place to bring the kids up," she said.
Their lives had always been "busy, busy, busy", and they had both been involved with various community groups and organisations.
Mr McNally was a director of the Otago Co-operative Dairy Company from 1967 until 1991.
The secret to a long and successful marriage was doing things together and helping each other, Mr McNally said.
The couple, who have five children - Bev, Ken, Ray, Wendy and Clive - 16 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, are having a family celebration to mark the milestone.
