In the 1940 Census he was sharing a house, aged 14 with his mother Julia, and younger brother Ralph ( Rafael) who at that time was just one year old
Through contact with his son Frank, he tells me Louis De Lalla became a tank sergeant enlisting around June 1944 and for his courage earning the purple heart. He re-enlisted in the Army in November of 1945 and after military service went on to establish his own business, Gem Valet Inc, a highly recognised and valued dry cleaning business in Washington, with the family home in Kansas Avenue.
He witnessed some of the atrocities in the concentration camps but was loathe to ever discuss some of the things he had seen
There are 14 reels of 8mm film with around 30 minutes of good viewable, mostly colour movies along with one Black and White Film and three boxes of slides
The contents of the movies include Jeanie's Christening and birthday parties, Easter with the family, an Idaho reunion at the lake, a trip to Canada, A College football game between St John's and Gonzago where his brother Rafael played, all filmed between 1955 and 1963
The colour slides may not be of the De Lalla family and are mainly landscape views, but will be included in the archive.
The movie I have put together here is made up of clips from a representative sample of the De Lalla archive and is roughly converted, however the quality could be improved with a professional conversion
This batch of movies was purchased from and estate sale in April 2016
The research shows that Louis De Lalla passed in June 2008 whilst his beloved wife Carmela passed in February 2016 but are survived by their four children, Jean, Frank, Michael and Jo Anne, plus 8 grandchildren
