Horace Walsh

Horace Finley Walsh was born in 1870 in Boston, Massachusetts, the sixth of seven children of Irish immigrants driven to the New World by the Irish potato famine.  Horace, unlike his four brothers who became, policemen, firemen, or dockworkers, apprenticed himself to an accountant.  Horace’s easy manner and infinite memory for detail landed him a job with a major clothing and sports retailer in New York City.

On a business trip to San Francisco to evaluate sports equipment companies for purchase, Horace took a drive to the famous Valley of the Heart’s Delight.  Instantly seduced by its sublime beauty and simplicity, he answered a newspaper advertisement for a business manager placed by the owner of the largest department store south of San Francisco.  One month later, he was living in San Jose, the flagship city of the Valley of the Heart’s Delight, and owned a minority share of the store.

Three years later, the store owner and his wife died in a tragic boating accident in the Pacific Ocean off Santa Cruz, and left the department store to their only daughter, Natalie.  Horace’s business acumen coupled with his thoughtfulness and kindness to Natalie kindled a love affair, then marriage despite a ten year difference in their ages.  Nine months to the day of their marriage, Natalie gave birth to a son, Blake; two years later, their daughter, Helen, named for Natalie’s mother.

Natalie became a full-time housewife, and when Blake was four, she enthusiastically agreed with Horace’s suggestion that the store, following extensive remodeling and an increase in size, would be re-named, Walsh & Son.

Horace continues to build his clothing and dry goods business steadily, in great part due to the provision of the latest men’s and women’s fashions from New York, Boston, and Chicago to wealthy land-owners, orchardists, and cannery executives and managers.  Horace and Natalie have friendships with virtually all the prominent families in the Valley of the Heart’s Delight. 

Horace’s genial manner camouflages a decisive, penetrating intellect, and a preternatural ability to merchandise.  Whether haute couture for the ladies, or fly rods, shotguns, and three-piece-suits for the gentlemen, Horace Walsh knows how to get them into the Valley of the Heart’s Delight homes.

Horace’s ability to navigate seamlessly through society is facilitated by his natural confidence, intelligence, and genuine affection for humanity.  He is utterly devoted to Natalie, and is a loving, and accessible father to his son and daughter.  As is often the case with father and daughter, and mother and son, Horace has a special relationship with Helen, and Natalie with Blake.

Blake’s close bond with his mother and her interest in art, architecture, fashion, and interior decoration prepared Blake well for his entry into the family business.  This synergy thrilled Horace who is inordinately proud of his son, and holds back none of the rewards he would ordinarily have delayed until after years of proven performance.

As someone accustomed to the effective consideration of a wide range of perspectives in every decision achieve and maintain success, Horace applies these skills to the resolution of his son’s kidnapping.  Since personal relationships play key roles in both his personal and professional life, he is accustomed to taking people at their word.  It will prove a hard lesson in the fall of 1933.