Biography
Herb Purnell, the eldest of three sons, was born on May 22nd, 1934, in Hackensack, NJ, to Herbert Charles Purnell, Sr., and Anne Hascup Purnell. He was a bright child who enjoyed school, graduating a year early despite a near-fatal attack of acute nephritis at the age of fifteen. After a miraculous recovery, Herb attended both Philadelphia Bible Institute and Wheaton College, where he earned an undergraduate degree in Anthropology. Further studies led him through Hartford Seminary and Columbia University, culminating in a doctorate in Linguistics from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Elsie May Clark was born December 14, 1934 to Arthur and Edith Clark in the family’s home on Palmer Street in Bloomfield, NJ., joining siblings Alice, Shirley, and Tom. For most of her childhood she lived in Caldwell Township (Fairfield), NJ. She was a graduate of Moody Bible Institute (1956; Dipl. Bible and Missions) and William Carey International University (1986; B.A. International Development).
Herb and Elsie married in 1956 and they had four children: Mark, Lois, Thomas, and Anna Beth, all of whom were born in Asia.
Before going to Asia, Elsie and Herb pastored the First Baptist Church, Quartzsite, AZ. The Purnells then worked among the Mien people in North Thailand with the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF), in 1960-64, 1970-74, 1975-77, and 1978-81. Dr. Purnell held an active role in the development of a globally-unified script of the Mien language. In Bangkok, in 1978, he worked at Union Language School as a curriculum developer, allowing non-native speakers to learn the Thai language. From 1978-81, Elsie served as the chair of the English Department at Bangkok Bible College. She was in China from 1987-88 studying Mien embroidery.
Moving to California in 1982, Herb served as the chair of the Applied Linguistics and TESOL program at William Carey International University, a program that he helped transfer to Biola University in La Mirada, CA, in the early 1990’s. Forging relationships through various channels, including anthropology, ethnomusicology, language research, education, and consultation, script development, and discipleship, Dr. Purnell influenced the lives of many in southeast Asia as well as in the United States.
Dr. Purnell’s magnum opus was the publication of his Iu-Mien – English dictionary with Cultural Notes in 2012, a professional undertaking that spanned an impressive twenty-five years. His discipline and dedication, upheld by his unwavering faith, allowed him to complete this 855-page tome during the painful years following the tragic death of his daughter, Lois, in 1988, the shocking loss of his home to wildfire in 1993, and the loss of Elsie to cancer in 2005.
Elsie was active in a number of service and ministry roles, including women’s counselor, U.S. Center for World Mission; founder and director, Third Culture Family Services; OMEF-US advisor for Third Culture Kids (TCKs); leader and facilitator of support groups for Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs); chapter leader, San Gabriel Valley Parents of Murdered Children (POMC).
Elsie was a woman of strong character. She survived the tragic loss of their daughter and home and used these tragedies as the basis for reaching out to others in their times of need. She had many talents, but perhaps her greatest gift was the ability to bless and encourage people in word and deed. She was a good listener, a wise counselor, and a strong advocate. She also loved comic strips. But above all, Elsie loved God and was committed to serving him from the time she was a teenager. She loved to read the Scriptures to learn more about her Heavenly Father. She was a woman of prayer, touching lives around the world by bringing them and their requests to God.
Elsie went home to be with the Lord on June 25, 2005.
Never wanting to be idle, Dr. Purnell continued his professional involvements for as long as he could before his health would no longer permit the long hours of work he loved.
In the midst of his physical ailments, however, he painstakingly penned a spiritual memoir (along with notes from Elsie) entitled Stones of Remembrance in the Garden of Our Lives: One Family’s Experiences of the Faithfulness of God.
Dr. Herbert Charles Purnell, Jr., went home to be with the Lord on January 11, 2025.