A Valentine boy.

My father was a Valentine's baby and today, had he lived, he would have celebrated his 97th birthday. He was born in Canada, of Irish descent, and endured a pretty miserable childhood. He was only 4 years old when his mother died, a victim of the great Influenza epidemic that had broken out in the closing days of the First World War. His father could not cope with the situation and he was sent, together with his 5 older sisters and brothers, to an orphanage in Ottawa where they spent the rest of their childhood. He is standing on the right of the photograph which was taken when my grandfather, whom I never knew, visited the orphanage.
Mrs Talpa was very fond indeed of my dad, and the rose is from her, to him.