Leoida Elvena Tenn Minor

Lena was born on August 18, 1913 the town of Rose Hill in the parish of St. Mary in Jamaica. Her parents were Megan Mundell and Allen Tenn. She attended Rose Hill Elementary School and also Catholic Elementary School in Kingston. Her fondest childhood memories are of the time she spent with her grandmother Diana Mundell who would share stories of her childhood and read her stories from the Bible. It can be said that Lena's upbringing was very strict but this only added to her demonstration to succeed and help to mold her independent spirit.

She migrated to Kingston at the age of 16 to work in her father's grocery store but the retail grocery was not to be her future. With her God-given talent and gift for sewing, Lena knew better future path involve dressmaking. At the age of 18, she started sewing with a Kingston dressmaker by the name of Mrs Steel. Making her first bridal dress for a customer was a happy memory and from this she realized that it was her destiny to be a great seamstress. After a period of time, she went out on her own and opened her first shop at the corner of Orange Street and parade in Kingston. Because of her expertise in sewing, word soon spread and the number of her customers increased. It was not long before she moved her shop to a new location on King Street which is the main Street in Kingston.

Lena married Albert Lowe in February of 1943. They had a son Barry and a daughter Marcia. The marriage did not last and in 1947 after divorcing Albert she migrated to the US. Her first job was in child care but gradually she was able to return to her profession as a dressmaker. She married William Minor and had her third child a son Michael. Once again, this marriage fell apart and she was divorced in 1955. Several design houses work graced with her professional skills as a dressmaker; Martha Phillips, Grace Stehli and the Alberta Weiland (who specializes in bridal gowns). Until her retirement she work predominantly with sportswear companies with the longest employment at Aronoff and Richling. In 1990 she came out of retirement to work for “One of a Kind” Bridal Gowns own by Candy Solomon.

She and her sister made a move to the warmer climate of Florida in 1997 where she still kept up her dress making skills by sewing and doing alterations for her neighbors in their condominium. She was very proud to have made the wedding gown of her grandson’s wife in 1998 at the age of 84.

When you wore a dress or gown made by Lena, you knew that you wore something special and beautiful. She had a gift for making a dress to fit your body exactly right. Her gowns were a vision of beauty.

Some of the other hobbies that brought her enjoyment was needlepoint, reading and betting at the horse races. Reflecting on her long and successful career as a seamstress, she was proud of all her beautiful creations and of all the wonderful people she met along the way. Lena played a vital role in her family and they will miss her so much she was the center and the heart of her children Barry, Marcia and Michael. She will also be missed by her niece Joan Barber and her grandchildren Kent Frezzell, Barry Lowe, Jr., Deneen Chin, Derek Lowe Damon Chin and Elena Minor and her great grandchildren and many dear friends. She would not want you to be sad at this time but to remember her happier times. You can also smile as you remember her good sense of humor and how she would laugh at jokes and humorous greeting cards.

The words of the following lines by Kevin Healy entitled “Togetherness” contains the message and philosophy that Lena would want us to have at this time:

Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room. Whatever we were to each other we still are. Call me by my old familiar name. Speak to me in the same easy way you always have. laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Life means all that is ever meant. It is the same as it always was. There is an absolute unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of your mind because I am out of your sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner. All is well. Nothing is past. Nothing has been lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before--- only better. Infinitely happier. We will be one, together forever.