ONE of Oxford's first 'GI' brides who later became a trained nurse in America, Roma Abeln, has died aged 88.

The Cowley schoolgirl met - and later married - US Army soldier Maurice Abeln at the Churchill Hospital where he ended up after being wounded at the Battle of the Bulge.

Around 70,000 British women married American soldiers and moved across the Atlantic in the 1940s and became known as GI brides.

Roma and her husband settled in rural New Cambria, Missouri where they brought up six children.

She regularly returned to Oxford to visit her six siblings and parents, who were well known in the area.

She graduated from nursing school at the age of 50 and worked in nursing homes and hospitals in Missouri well into her 70's.

Roma Lilian Abeln (nee Wyatt) was born on May 11, 1928 in Oxford to Reginald, a builder and small holder, and Lilian Wyatt.

The eldest of seven children, she grew up in Marshall Road, Cowley and went to St Christopher's School in the area.

After leaving school at the age of 14 she joined the Women's Land Army - an organisation set up so women could replace men working in agriculture during the war, for the good of the country.

She was stationed at Murcott, Oxfordshire throughout the war when she would meet her future husband Maurice Abeln.

The US Army soldier - with the 75th infantry division - was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive of the Second World War.

Wounded foreign troops were taken from the frontline to Southampton and then by train to a number of major cities including Oxford.

Mr Abeln found himself in the Churchill Hospital at the beginning of 1945 and this was where the couple would meet for the first time.

They fell in love and married on January 10, 1946 in Oxford but shortly afterwards Maurice had to return to America.

Roma followed her man - with their first child Valerie in tow - across the Atlantic.

But it was a gruelling thirteen-day voyage in atrocious weather conditions accompanied by many other GI brides, all off to start their new lives.

After graduating from nursing school aged 50, she worked at hospitals and nursing homes across Missouri for more than 20 years.

She was a dedicated nurse, who often sat around the clock with patients who had no one else to care for them.

In retirement she enjoyed gardening and visiting family and friends.

She died in her sleep at the Samaritan Hospital, Macon, Missouri on January 18 and is survived by her six children, Valerie, Jennifer, Cynthia, Diana, Alan and Johnathan, her six siblings Bill, Mick, Ron, Anthea, Ada and Linda, 12 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.

She predeceased by her husband Maurice - who died on May 8, 2001.