Miss Valeria Woodward’s name is probably not familiar to most people reading this feature. But to four generations of women in Winston-Salem, they thought they didn’t have an Easter hat unless “Miss Vallie” had made it.
Miss Vallie was actually Miss Valeria Woodward, a native of Raleigh, who was born on this day in 1885. Her mother made clothes for her seven children, and Valeria began sewing when she was seven. She made a red velvet doll’s hat, which she entered in the State Fair and won a $1 prize.
Shortly afterwards, she became ill and gradually her eyesight began to dim. For the next 10 years she grew very frail. She attended the School for the Blind, where she learned to type, play the piano, sing, sew and read. And her health began to improve.
By the mid-1920s, Valeria was making hats, first in Durham and Raleigh, then for Rosenbachers’ and the Ideal in Winston-Salem. She opened her own shop on Cherry Street, then later moved to the Nissen Building. Women dropped in to visit and chat, order and pick up their new hats, or have something added to a hat or repaired on a hat.
When Valeria retired in 1964, she estimated that she had made and sold about 15,000 hats.
She passed away in 1971.
Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
Thank you so much for sharing this article. I am related to Miss Vallie on my father’s side of the family. I remember going to see Miss Vallie when she was in the Nissan Building. I remember seeing some of her hats!!! She was a dear, sweet lady.
I was also intrigued by her story. Women in business for themselves were rare, and she had a handicap that was directly related to her occupation. I’ll be glad to send you a 1953 article about Miss Vallie if you don’t have one in your family files. And, if you have a better photo of her, I’d love a better quality image. The image used here was scanned from a newspaper article. Just let me know and we can make arrangements to transfer article and photo. Thanks.