Vida Marjorie Catherine (Shields) Fay (1912 - 1994)

Born 1912 in Corowa, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Died 23 Dec 1994 at about age 82 in New South Wales, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Phil Shields [send private message]

Biography

Vida Marjorie Shields was born at Corowa, New South Wales in 1912. ^[1]

Vida married John Patrick Fay at Kingsford in 1948. ^[2]

She died on 23 Dec 1994 at the age of 82. ^[3]

Event

Event:

Type: Oral History Nellie Shields 1987

Note: Vida Shields - Eric's elder sister, was a buyer for David Jones'. She came to Melbourne a lot - dresses, fashions, for Sydney. She has to use a walking frame now. She is a good painter, self taught, in oils. They are good quality. She was ballroom dancing champion in Sydney in 1938. during the war she was at De Havilland's, building aeroplanes. She was mad on horses, oned them. She had one red stallion no-one could touch but her. She rode it all around the park. She was talented. As a girl she played the violin - she was taught. But she didn't take to it. A kid once chased her from school - she had beautiful auburn hair, and he called her "carrots" - and she pulled a paling off the fence and flattened him, knocked him out. She rushed inside and started playing the violin. She was relieved when he turned up at school next day, alive and uninjured.

Vida lives in the same sort of situation as Nellie - but she has dogs instead of cats. It is a big property. The top floor is made into a flat - a chap lives there. It is a huge place, the house. It smells, from the dogs. [A great sense of smell, the Shields's. We could always earn three pence at home from detecting where the tomcat had been. I'd get the three pence (ie., Eric) . I couldn't stay for more than a short time in Nellie's place without going outside for a breath of air. It's not cats - it's her.].

Vida chain-smokes; she always has. She was in everything. She had no children. Her husband, Johnny, died. He was a real nice bloke, and loved kids, but he didn't live long enough. He was an RC, but not practising Vic., Eric's father, used to draw. He would do pencil drawings of horses.

All the family liked cats.

Note

Oral history: Nellie Shields 1987 There is only 6 years difference between Vida's and my age. Vida is still alive. Jean died a few years back - a tragedy, her death, she was the backbone of the family. She would ring me and let me know the news. She died of cancer, out of the blue. Jean married Jack Sandell.

Vida was about 18 when she got sick, they said she coudn't live, but she's still going. Vida married John Fay. Her husband died a good few years ago.

Vida's husband died. He and the chap Jean married had worked together, as apprentices, in Sydney. They were both in the Airforce. Vida had not been married long before her husband died. Vida was sick in her teens and they said she couldn't live, but she battled through and is still going. But Vida, she was very sick when she was about 19, with a growth on the bladder. There was one part they couldn't operate on. But she plodded along. When I was at the Globe a specialist was there and I asked him, you attended my niece?. He came along after dinner and said there was nothing for her to live for, they had tried everything, without result. She'll be 21 and it'll be the first birthday I won't have spent with her. About a month later I picked up the paper and he'd been killed in a plane crash. We got another doctor, who was just back from the USA and said I've got something that will cure you; will you take 6 weeks treatment? Well I've had 6 years, so 6 weeks won't hurt. It was sulfanilimide, and it cured her.[The specialist who died in the crash was Dr Lee Brown].

Vida was a good ballroom dancer, and won a lot of competitions. She lives in Darlinghurst.

[1] Here is a video of Christmas at Rainbow st Kingsford about 1963

Sources

1. ↑ NSW Government. Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Vida M Shields, Birth. Registration number: 41780/1912, District: Corowa. Father: Robert V. Mother: Margaret A. Accessed 5 Oct 2020. Births search page
2. ↑ NSW Government. Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages. John Patrick Fay & Vida Marjorie Catherine Shields, Marriage. Registration number: 10650/1948, District: Kingsford. Accessed 4 Oct 2020. Marriages search page
3. ↑ Vida Marjory Fay, died 23 Dec 1994 aged 82. Death notice published in The Sydney Morning Herald 28 Dec 1994, cited in: Ryerson Index Inc,. “The Ryerson Index to Death Notices and Obituaries in Australian Newspapers.” Accessed 5 Oct 2020. Ryerson Index search

This person was created through the import of shields11022011.ged on 13 February 2011.