Doris Healey was a flower seller in Kingston Market and her husband, Charles Jordan, a champion boxer.

Little did they dream that their only child, Shirley, would one day be crowned queen of California's San Diego ballroom dancing chapter.

"She's an amazing ambassador for Surrey," says her cousin, Janie Still, of The Avenue, Worcester Park.

Shirley, a former pupil at St Luke's School in Kingston, started ballet and tap dancing at the age of three.

She gave performances many times during her childhood and survived some harrowing moments during the wartime bombing of the borough.

At 15 she became a pupil at the renowned Alex Moore dance studio in Kingston.

Three years later, like so many other local girls, she was swept off her feet by a young American serviceman.

She married him, followed him and his career around the world and had six children together.

Tragedy struck with the death of her eldest son and the break-up of her marriage after 18 years.

But when she began teaching ballroom dancing in Virginia, she met her future husband, Sean Moody, at a dance.

The couple moved to San Diego in the 1990s, where Shirley, who has nine grandchildren, continued her love of dancing at the Champion Ballroom Academy.

She joined San Diego Smooth Dancers six years ago and, with Sean, has become one of their leading artists and, for the past year, their reigning queen.

jsampson@london.newsquest.co.uk