Sylvia Willard
Sylvia Willard was born in 1922 in North Adams, Massachusetts, and died in 2006 in Rutland, Vermont. Her family had a long history in New England. Sylvia's father grew up in Middlebury and her mother in North Adams, Massachusetts. After her parents married, they opened a department store in Brandon, Vermont. Shapiro's Department Store has been open for over 90 years. At an early age, Sylvia was interested in theater. During the 1930s, her mother drove her to Middlebury to study drama with a Middlebury college professor. She learned to recite classical poetry, do dramatic readings, and won scholarships and drama contests. Both of her parents were very supportive of her choice to make a career in the theatre. Sylvia met her husband Howard when she was in high school. Sylvia graduated from Syracuse University, moved to New York City to work as a production assistant for several Broadway shows. They married during the early years of World War II. After Sylvia's father passed away at a young age, the young couple returned to Brandon to help her mother run Shapiro's Department Store. Sylvia opened a second store Jane's Dress Shop of Brandon and worked with her husband in all parts of the business. Community theatre was a large focus of Sylvia's life. In the early 1970s, Sylvia and several others founded Actors' Repertory Theatre. Sylvia directed shows for the company and taught drama classes at the College of St. Joseph. Throughout her adult life, Sylvia and Howard were active participants in classes and study groups at the Rutland Jewish Center, where they were lifelong members. Sylvia and Howard frequently traveled to shows on Broadway and summer stock performances around Vermont. She herself began directing community productions in the 1950s, and by the 1970s, she and several friends had founded Actors' Repertory Theatre.
Sylvia talks about her family history and background. Sylvia's father, David Shapiro, grew up in Middlebury, VT. In 1917 he opened Shapiro's Department Store in nearby Brandon. Her mother, Katie, was raised in North Adams, MA, and it was during a visit to her family that Sylvia was born in 1922. Sylvia and her sister Evelyn enjoyed happy memories of growing up in small-town Vermont. As children, Sylvia and her sister Evelyn helped at the family's store and played in and around the streets of Brandon. Sylvia describes her early interest and involvement in theater and drama and traces her theater career in New York and then Vermont. Through the 1930s, Sylvia's mother, encouraging her daughter's early love of theater, transported her regularly to study drama with a professor in Middlebury. She learned to recite classical poetry and perform readings, winning scholarships and competitions. Sylvia recalls the early days of the Rutland Jewish Center before the congregation had the present building on Grove Street. Before Rutland's Jewish community acquired its current building on Grove Street in 1927, the Shapiros and other Jewish families would rent a large room and hire a traveling rabbi to lead their High Holidays services. Each spring, Sylvia's mother hosted a Passover seder. Later, as an adult, Sylvia joined classes and study groups at the Rutland Jewish Center. Sylvia tells the story of meeting her husband, Howard Willard. When Sylvia was in high school, her mother set up a "chance" meeting with Howard Willard, a local music store employee. Sylvia found she liked the young man, and the two were soon an item, although it was some years before they would marry. First, Sylvia finished high school and continued on to Syracuse University. After graduating, she moved to New York City to work as a production assistant on Broadway. With World War II still raging, Sylvia finally married her "Howie," by then a soldier. When his service ended, the couple married and set up a house in Manhattan. Soon after, Sylvia's father died unexpectedly, and they returned to Brandon to help her mother run Shapiro's. Sylvia opened a second store, Jane's Dress Shop. She explains how she and Howard opened a third store and managed all three while she translated her theatrical training and love of fashion into show-stopping window displays.
