“his is a photo of me (Sheila Dalton) and my mom (Mary Dalton). In 1957 my family had emigrated to Manitouwadge, Ontario, Canada,
where I was born in 1959, the only Canadian in the family. My dad became terminally ill with cancer and died on 12 June 1964 at the young age of 38. Shortly afterwards, my mom brought all five of her children (I am the youngest) back to Dublin. I’m pretty sure this photo was taken in September 1964. I remember this day as if it was yesterday; I’m wearing my favourite outfit, a white dress with a light blue sailor-style coat and a little cherry motif on the collar. I remember feeling really embarrassed because so many people were looking at us getting our picture taken – I was so shy and felt so nervous. Everything in the city seemed so big after living in a small mining town in northern Ontario. This photo of my mom and me has always been my favourite. My mom was an incredibly strong woman; it wasn’t easy for her to raise five children on her own in the 1960s, but she did a fabulous job and we made her proud! All these years later I am still amazed at the strength and courage she had bringing us up on her own. Gradually my family moved back to Canada in the late 1970s and settled in Vancouver. However, I only spent a short time there before moving back to Dublin to be with the love of my life. I didn’t really know much about Arthur Fields back then, except that he was a man with a camera who was always taking photos. Myself and my husband have a few photos that were taken by Arthur. It was always a treat to have our photo taken, then we’d go in to pick them up, hoping they were good ones. We were never disappointed.”

(1964)

Submitted by Sheila Alwell