Purcell, Clare, 1884-1964.

Clare Purcell, Methodist clergyman and bishop, was born on November 17, 1884. Bishop Purcell was educated at Roanoke Normal College, where he met his future wife, Ida West. The two were married in Roanoke on December 28, 1910. Clare and Ida Purcell were the parents of three children.

Purcell graduated from Roanoke Normal College in 1903 and worked for Georgia Railroad in Roanoke, Birmingham, and Columbus [Georgia]. He enrolled at Emory University in 1906. Health problems prevented him from completing his degree at Emory. Purcell was granted a local preacher's license in 1906 by the Lafayette District Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. In November of that year he was admitted to the North Alabama Conference on trial. He received the B.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1916, as well as an A.B. from Birmingham College in the same year.

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