Mum and Dad
My father
My father’s family originally came from Salzburg, where the Sigmund Haffner Gasse is in the heart of the old town. Our coat-of-arms was awarded to the family in the year 1632 by the Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria for service to the Catholic Church during the Thirty Years’ War. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dedicated to our family a Symphony and a Serenade. Our immediate family is detailed in our family book, of my Dad's family starting with his parents and finishing with my nieces.
My father died on 16 February 1986, after a short illness, and his obituary is available here
My mother
My mother’s family originally came from the Charente-Maritime region in France and, from La Rochelle, left France to colonize Canada in the seventeenth century. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem about one of my maternal ancestors, the Baron de Saint Castin. My mother, Luce Jean Haffner was born in L’Islet, 80 km east of Québec, Canada. She studied and taught sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, in the USA, and at Laval University in Québec Canada. and continued her career in Europe, where she met my father in Portsmouth. She wrote several books which are available below. My mother died on 27 April 2020 after a short illness.