Michael Gorman was one a large Catholic family living at a farm in Ballinalug, County Laois (then Queen’s County). Susan Fitzgerald (d. 1980) was one a Church of Ireland family living in Raheenahone House near Stradbally, County Laois, also in the Slieve Bloom mountains. At the time the letter was written they were involved in a courtship but owing to the religious difference the love affair had to be kept secret. Eventually both were in Dublin: he in the Albert Agricultural College in Glasnevin (where he eventually became Professor of Agricultural Botany and Biochemistry and she as a volunteer nurse in the Royal Hospital in Baggot Street. They eventually went to London to marry. In the letter, Susan refers to time spent with a mutual friend and her new uniform for the Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.), a voluntary organisation providing nursing to wounded British army soldiers, which she had just joined. She also mentions that she would like to meet in Maryborough (now Portlaoise) and tells Michael not to feel too down about the recent death of his mother after a long illness.