Vera Stillmank, owner of Madison’s Vera’s House of Bridals, has died at 96. She spent six decades helping brides find gowns, starting with alterations for women who had polio on her family farm in Janesville, Wisconsin, and working into her 90s.
While working part-time at a Singer sewing store, Stillmank entered a yellow formal gown she had made in a 4-H competition and won state and national contests. Store manager James Stillmank, who later became her husband, had promised to take her to dinner if she won; the couple later opened the Madison shop.
Her granddaughter Jennifer Kapinus said former clients returned with their daughters and granddaughters. After a tornado hit Baraboo, Stillmank helped affected brides find alternatives or feel beautiful in what they could wear so their weddings could go ahead, her daughter Renee told WKOW. Stillmank is survived by six living children, 15 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
