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Neighbourhood > Unseen Character Profiles > Maureen Donnelly

Maureen Faith Donnelly
Children: Glen
Occupation: Nurse

Born 19th August 1939 and affectionately known as “Mo”, Maureen Donnelly was a woman who lived most of her life with a deep secret.

In the mid 1960s Maureen’s nursing skills were required for the Vietnam War. There she met a soldier called Jim Robinson and had a one night stand with him. On that fateful night, Mo had been wearing a colleague’s uniform baring the name “Katherine Simpson”, so Jim never knew who he had had an affair with. On her return to Australia, Maureen discovered that she was pregnant, but decided to raise the child alone as she knew Jim was married with children. Not only did she never tell Jim about his son, Glen, she never told her son who his father was.

Maureen raised Glen to be a strong willed and independent kind of guy; perhaps partially due to the mystery of his father’s identity. Sadly Maureen was diagnosed with cancer but it was this illness which spurred her to finally tell Glen the truth about his father. After Maureen died on 7th October 1990, Glen decided to track Jim down, if only to help pay for the final $1000 still owing on her funeral bill. Despite the difficult beginning to their relationship, Jim and Glen eventually came to treat each other as father and son.

Biography by David

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