The Powell family in 1934.
Nancie Swan, Born 1924
BURMA, INDIA & TEACHING
Nancie Swan’s mother Kathleen Kendal had lived in Burma since the age of five when her father, William Kendall, a railway manager who had originally worked for the Hull & Barnsley Railway, had taken an impulsive decision to work for Burma Railways. Nancie’s father, Val was also a railway engineer, working for Burma Railways. Nancie came to England for the first time at just under two years of age. She returned at the age of six and was placed in boarding school. In 1940 Nancie and her sister Daphne made the hazardous journey by sea to Burma, to join their parents. In 1942, as the Japanese invaded Burma, Nancie’s mother and the children fled by air to India. Their father Val stayed behind but also managed a last minute escape by air to join them. In 1948 Nancie married Norman Swan, who worked for the Burmah Oil Company, in the Scots Kirk in Rangoon. In 1962 they returned to England for good. Norman trained to be a minister in the Church of Scotland, and Nancie became a domestic science teacher.
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