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John Anthony Purcell Pt 1 – The Bell Bottom Flares Incident

This interview was recorded on a Zoom session between John Purcell in Kansas City, Missouri, USA and his nephew Damian Callinan in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on December 8th, 2021. Over the session we learn some important lessons – boy scouts should never drink out of creeks containing dead cows; don’t jump over a gate wearing flares in Hobart and don’t bother looking for an explanation when family friend Jeannie Phillips gives you a nickname. Joining John ‘Peanut’ Purcell for some delightful cameos are his wife Judi Purcell [nee Palmer] & Sidney the shih tzu.

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Margaret Mary Anderson Pt 2 – Belle of the Lord Mayor’s Ball

In part 2 of Damian Callinan’s chat with his maternal aunt Margaret Anderson [nee Purcell] we learn that apart from wearing blue cloaks to Mass, the Children of Mary were largely ‘useless’; we discover that she still has her 1956 Lord Mayor’s ball gown made by her mother & that her eldest son Mark may have been switched at the Mercy Hospital & raised by ‘another’ Margaret Anderson.

[Recorded in Forest Hill, Victoria on December 7th, 2021]

Margaret in the hammock with her mum May & sister Kathleen
May & Jack Purcell with daughters Margaret & Kathleen
Margaret at her Debutant Ball [dress made by her mum, May Purcell]