Mrs. Vira Smith By Damion Mitchell, Freelance Writer
PORUS, Manchester:
AT 88, Vira Smith still has a passion for dressmaking: a career which she started at age 15 and will continue to practice "as long as life is in the body".
Born on November 23, 1912 in Myersville, St. Elizabeth, Vira Smith is one of four children for Stafford Chamberlin and Caroline Green.
She attended the Austin Elementary School in the parish before she became an apprentice dressmaker to her sister.
"In my younger days as soon as you left school you had to get a skill and dressmaking was my choice," said Miss Vira while speaking in an interview with The Gleaner.
She recalled that from the revenue she collected from sewing she was able to buy a small hand-operated sewing machine a few years after becoming an apprentice. "It wasn't an easy life," recalled Miss Vira, adding that "things were hard".
In search for a more comfortable life, Miss Vira left Myersville at age 20 and went to Mandeville where she worked as a domestic helper. She also spent a few years working in Kingston. However, she never abandoned dressmaking.
Soon Miss Vira met John Smith and they got married when she was 30. The couple settled in Mandeville and produced five children. She recalled that she would sew her children's uniform and other apparel and pointed out that this was an effective means of saving money.
When Miss Vira settled in Mandeville with her husband shortly after they got married, she still continued domestic work as well as dressmaking. Before long, she was making all sorts of clothes for almost her entire neighbourhood. Even then, persons still travelled from St. Elizabeth to have her sew for them. Miss Vira was known for her accuracy, neatness and reliability in her career.
Asked for her view of today's apparel industry, she said that "the ready made products have slowed up the business of local dressmakers". She is encouraging young people to make the best use of their opportunities, skills and talents now and they will reap the rewards in later years.
