SRIMANI DASSENAIKE was born on 12th December 1926 at Nattandiya, to Charlotte Valerie Amybelle Corea and Lois Robert Clifton Dassenaike. Her younger sister Siva was also born in Nattandiya, where the family lived, with their grandmother, Eugene Sarah Attygalle Corea. The family later moved to Marapola in the Veyangoda area and then shifted to Mount Lavinia. As the two sisters grew up, they went to live with their grand-mother and in time moved to Jaffna to live with their grand-mother and uncle, Henri Corea. Henri Corea had enlisted in the Police Force as a Sub-Inspector and Jaffna was his first station. Srimani attended school at the Jaffna Convent and speaks of a carefree life, when on evenings the two sisters would accompany their grand-mother to the Governor’s Residence within the Jaffna Fort, for tea. They continued to live with their uncle Henri even after he married Claire De Alwis and her cousins Ilona, Randunna and Deva were born. Srimani completed her education at CMS Ladies' College Colombo, where she and her sister Siva were boarders. The two sisters are closely bonded to their younger brother, Vijaya Corea.
Completing her schooling, Srimani joined her father who was then working at the Badulla Kachcheri. She and her father lived at the time, with her father’s brother Arthur Dassenaike who was then the Superintendent of Demodara Estate. After the retirement of her father and uncle, they came down to Colombo and resided in Dehiwela.
Soon after the demise of her father, she and her uncle moved to reside in a house within the spacious grounds of the `Maligawa’, her sister Siva’s residence at Race Course Avenue in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo. Siva was at the time the Minister of Health in the government headed by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
It was during this period, that Srimani started a small sales outlet selling locally made sweets, pickles and chutneys, within `Lakpahana’. `Lakpahana’ is a private sector organization for the development of local handicrafts, set up by her sister Siva in 1974, adjoining the `Maligawa’. She was acclaimed for the quality of her products, especially the tasty lunch packets of `Lamprais’. In 2005, she moved into her own house in Dehiwela and started her own little shop called `Variety’ at Sri Saranankara Road in Kalubowila, Dehiwela. She passed away on 03rd November 2013.
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