1945: Grandpa Arthur's 2nd daughter is born at a hospital in Valence, France.

Source: Memories of Drôme. Photo from the late 1930s.
Polyclinique de Notre-Dame Auxiliatrice, the hospital
where my mother was born.

        Grandpa Arthur told me a little bit about Mom's birth back in 1988 when I recorded his stories:

     Was it a hospital or maternité? I forgot. I think it was a hospital. Lillian was born in a maternité. It was only for birth. But this was a hospital. So when it became apparent she was supposed to go to the hospital, I went and got the car and drove her to the hospital ... and the hospital was not heated, by lack of fuel. It was freezing in every room. The only heating was in surgeries and delivery rooms. Otherwise it was not ...  [brrrr] ... shiver. So when I picked up Roma in the car to get her to the delivery room. How cold the delivery room was? Well, the doctor asked me to step out ...  And I was cold. I claimed I suffered more than Roma. Roma is laughing at that, but she was not cold, and I was. But all right. What else you want to know? The baby came, it was a daughter, my second daughter and very lovely. 

    You can read a rough draft of that chapter here, but keep in mind that it's definitely rough, and has been revised since I posted it (and will be revised further still).

    Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I had the following conversation with my mom:

Me: Can I get a photocopy of your birth certificate?

Mom: Why do you need that?

Me: Because sometimes there are clues on the document that will help with the story.

Mom: What sort of clues?

Me: Well, on Lilly's document, it listed the names and ages of the two out-of-work guys Grandpa paid to be his witnesses. It also provided the street address of the clinic where Lilly was born, and listed their home address, which allowed me to map out a plausible route for Grandpa to follow on the day of the invasion.  

Mom: Well, it's in the safe deposit box; give me a few days.    

    Mom's birth certificate proved to be just as useful as Lilly's. It:

• Corroborated their then-current address in Valence.
• Provided the street address of the building where my mother was born (44 Rue Amblard, Valence France), which confirms that it was indeed a hospital, and not a maternity clinic.  
• Listed the time of day she was born (the wee hours!).
• Cost my grandpa 2.50 francs in paperwork fees, and another 3 or so francs in other taxes.

    With the help of my historian friend in France, I learned that the building was constructed in 1935, and was originally called the "Polyclinique de Notre-Dame Auxiliatrice" (In English, "Notre-Dame Auxiliary Hospital"). 

    It was a public hospital at the time, but today it is privately-operated as a retirement home called La Maison de L'Automn ("the Autumn House"):

La Maison de L'Automn, today.
Source: MDRS.