Mrs Patricia A Dennis obituary

Pat Dennis was born on the 28 October 1942 as Patrica Anne Burdsall in Hillingdon and grew up in Beaconsfield attending Slough Technical College. She studied Chemistry and Zoology at Goldsmiths College London, being the first of her family to attend university, before going to head the Chemistry department at Worthing High School for Girls.

On 5 August 1967, she married Roger Dennis and stopped teaching to have three children, Alison, Christopher and Beth. In the 1980’s, Pat returned to teaching at Warden Park School, Cuckfield, and her students picked up her enthusiasm for the subject with two students going on to obtain doctorates in Chemistry.

The teachers of today are crucial to inspire the next generation of chemists. With the introduction of balanced science at GCSE removing Chemistry as a separate science, a decision that was reversed long ago, she gave
up teaching and moved to work as a technician at the Chemistry department of the University of Sussex.

In 2003, Roger died and shortly afterward Pat moved to St Albans to be closer to her family. She took an active role in the WI and U3A, giving well received lectures on Chemistry. She died on the 21 July 2023 leaving her three children and four grandchildren, Eleanor, William, Alice and Robert.