The Sun:
Maybe you can’t change a person’s life with flowers, but in nearly 27 years in the florist business, Nancy Yeoman says flowers can sure make people smile.
Brightening people’s lives is the best part of her business, said Yeoman, who owns Yucaipa Florist located in the Tower Center on County Line Road.Over the years, she’s brightened up a lot of lives with flowers. She’s also collected a treasure trove of stories about the people who order them.
The most poignant story started with a very long distance phone call in 2004.
“I got this call from a soldier in Iraq from a satellite phone,” Yeoman said. “He said, `Bear with me, I’m in Iraq and we’re under fire.”‘
The soldier told Yeoman that he was under his truck and his unit was under attack, but that he needed to place a quick order.
“He said he needed to order flowers for his mom for Mother’s Day,” Yeoman said. “It was a couple days before Mother’s Day. It brought tears to my eyes talking with him. I told him that his mom should be so proud of him.”
The soldier hung up the phone and went back to fighting the war, and Yeoman filled the order.
She’s filled a lot of orders over the years in the family business started by her mother, Marianne Yeoman, in the early 1980s. Back then, the business was much simpler and time-honored traditions kept florists flourishing.
Photo by cybaea.