Date of Birth:

Place of Birth: Birr, Co. Offaly

Date Interviewed: 9th December 2009

Summary: Billie was born in Co. Offaly and can remember roller-skating through Birr as a child and seeing a poster on a pole saying “War Declared”. She married Tom O’Donnell in 1953 and describes the cold, wet night she arrived in Taghmon. They set up a pharmacy in the village and also had a farm. At one point they used a helicopter to spray the crops with insecticide! Billie loves drama and talks of her performances, including the powerful and moving Passion play which was seen on national television. Tom loved horses and in 1996 their horse Imperial Call, ridden by jockey Conor Dwyer, won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, The Hennessy Gold Cup and the Heineken Gold Cup.