Well-known crime writer seeks information on local ancestors

By Julie Parsons

In October 1955 a boat called the ‘Joyita’ left the island of Samoa in the South Pacific, bound for the Tokelau Islands, three days away by sea. Among the passengers was Dr Andy Parsons, whose family owned the Parsons’ shoe shops; two in Athlone, one each in Moate, Ballinasloe and Mullingar.

Andy Parsons had been asked to go to Tokelau to treat the arm of a man with gangrene. An amputation would be needed. However, the ‘Joyita’ never arrived at its destination; nor did it return to Samoa. It went missing.

The New Zealand air force was called out to search, but found nothing. Five weeks later the ‘Joyita’ was found, still afloat. But when the boat was boarded it was revealed that everyone, all 25 passengers and crew, had disappeared without trace.

There was never an explanation for what had happened to them. None of the passengers were ever seen again.

It is a mystery of the sea, as mysterious today as it was in 1955.

Andy Parsons was my father. I can remember the four-year-old me waving goodbye to him at the pier when he left Samoa for Tokelau.

He and my mother, Elizabeth and my sister, Gay, had emigrated to New Zealand in 1947, after the worst winter in living memory.

During the Second World War, my father had served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in the British Army. He had been awarded the Military Cross for bravery during the battle of El Alamein and was seriously wounded in the Anzio Landings in Italy.

My mother, Elizabeth, was from a Church of Ireland clergy family, the Chamberlains, who lived in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin.

My parents settled in New Zealand, where my two brothers and I were born.

The mystery of Andy’s disappearance meant that Elizabeth had to wait for seven years until he could legally be declared dead.

When the time was up, she brought us all back to Ireland.

After many years as a radio and television producer with RTÉ, I began to write fiction. I have written seven novels; the latest, ‘The Therapy House’, won the Crime Fiction Book of the Year Award in 2017.

I have now begun to write my family story, in particular the story of the Parsons, who were such a large part of the commercial life of the Midlands.

Their shoe business began in Moate in the middle of the 19th century. It was started by my great great grandfather, John Parsons, and his wife, Ann, both of whom are buried in Kilcleagh graveyard.

His son, another John, opened the first shop in Athlone and eventually his son, George, my grandfather, took it over.

Unfortunately I never knew him as he died before I was born.

George’s son, Des, my uncle, the fourth generation of Parsons, then ran the business, but he sold it in the mid-1960s.

Recently I went to visit the former shops, all, of course, now closed. However, I discovered that many people still remember them and have stories of trips to buy school shoes, pairs of wellingtons and nailed boots for work on the farm, and fancy shoes too, shoes for a dance or perhaps a wedding.

The Parsons’ shops prided themselves on having up to date fashions, shoes from Dublin, the latest and the best.

Over the course of my research, I have come across newspaper advertisements for the shops.

One in particular stands out. It is headed ‘Do You Know this Man’ above a large photo of Dan Murray, the one-time manager of Parsons shoes in Mullingar.

It also shows the shop, with what is described as ‘a glittering new décor’. And there’s a giveaway shoe voucher for five shillings! Wouldn’t buy much now, but then it was a great offer.

The shop is still on Pearse Street in Mullingar; however it is now a Boylesport bookmakers, something which would, I’m sure, upset the Parsons family, who were staunch anti-gambling Methodists.

Ruth Illingworth, Mullingar historian, told me that her father had a TV shop across the road from Parsons’ shop. Her family lived above the shop, as did, she told me, the family of Dan Murray.

So, here’s the thing. Do any members of Dan’s family still live in or around Mullingar, or Moate or Athlone?

Do any of the readers of the Westmeath Examiner or Westmeath Independent know any of the Murray family? I would love to meet them.

I would love to know what life was like living above Parsons’ shoe shop in Pearse Street. I would also love to find anyone one else who might have worked for Parsons, or have any memories of the Parsons’ shop, and any of the people who worked there.

Unfortunately my father’s disappearance means that he is a mystery to me. His father, grandfather and great grandfather are similarly mysterious.

It would be wonderful to be able to bring them back to life. Any information gratefully received.