Imperial romance: Terence and Edna Dancy (née Abnett)

Edna (Chemistry 1945, MSc 1946) and I were in the same year, Edna having gone directly into the second year, so we first met in 1943.

Edna (Chemistry 1945, MSc 1946) and I were in the same year, Edna having gone directly into the second year, so we first met in 1943.

I volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm in 1944 but my call-up was deferred for six months so I could be sent on a special course, so I returned to College late for the start of the final year. Because benches in the Advanced Analytical Lab had already been assigned, I was placed next to Edna Abnett out of alphabetical order. This was the start of a romance! I was never called-up, being offered a discharge in 1945.

When we married in 1947 we received a telegram from Professor Theobald with the address "The Advanced Matrimonial Laboratory"! We are still married after 62 years!

We emigrated to the USA in 1956. We spent 15 years in Pittsburgh, where I worked in the steel industry. Edna got an external University of London PhD for Physical Chemistry Research undertaken at Carnegie Institute of Technology. She then worked for Westinghouse in the high temperature materials field. In 1971, I accepted a senior position with a steel company in Montréal. Edna worked in HydroQuébec's research lab. After we retired, we moved to New Hampshire in 1990 where we had a holiday home, to be near our two married daughters and grand children. We now have two great granddaughters as well.

Terence Dancy (Chemistry 1945, PhD Chemical Engineering 1948)