“In front of my children and their children, I was able to propose to Kathy.”

Roger has been a customer of In Bloom Florist since 1990, our first year in business. He was also the angel investor who personally helped us start our company. John had been in the flower business since graduating from college in 1977 and was working for Buning The Florist. Roger’s first wife, Pat, worked for John as a designer and salesperson. Both she and Roger really grew to appreciate John’s strong work ethic, loyalty and drive.

Eventually Roger called John and said, “I don’t invest in businesses, but I invest in people. I think you do a great job and I’d love to invest money to help you start your own shop.” Originally, our flower shop was called Orlando Flower Mart located on LB McLeod near Kirkman and Conroy. In 1999 we changed our name to In Bloom Florist and opened a location in Heathrow. We moved our main store to our current Gore Street location in 2009. That’s our love story with Roger. He’s had a couple of great stories of his own.

Roger lost Pat, his lovely bride of 53 years in 2007. He was lucky in love again with the very beautiful (and fun) Kathy. Here is their love story…

How did you two meet?

Roger: “Oh, Kathy will need to tell you this story.”

Kathy: “In 2008, Roger was working out at the YMCA and my friend so happened to be   there, too.  At some point, Roger asked my friend if she knew anyone  who may be interested in going out with him.  The friend gave Roger my name and phone number and he called me and we made plans to have lunch together.  We quickly scheduled a time and had a long lunch, got along famously and then I never heard from him again.”

(Roger and Kathy start giggling)

Then what happened?

Kathy: “Well, four years later, in 2012, Roger was working out at the YMCA again and…Well, you know what happened.  Same friend and same story. My friend reminded him that we had already met and that we had a great lunch, but that I never heard back from him.  Roger said he didn’t remember me, so my friend gave him a photo to help him place the memory.”  

Roger: “I still carry that photo with me today.”  

(He pulls out his wallet to show me the photo)

Kathy: “We met for a four-hour lunch at Tibbys a few days later and had such a great time, we ended up going to Stonewood Grill afterwards for pre-dinner cocktails. We have been together since.”

Tell me about your proposal…

Roger: “It was Christmas morning and I gave her a shoebox I had wrapped. I told her it was just shoes to go with her new dress that she purchased.  I told her to put it aside. After all the kids and grandchildren opened their gifts, I handed her the box. I had attached a card to the outside of the box, which, of course, she opened first.”

Kathy: “It was a Dr. Seuss card.  On the front of the card it said, “I want to give you lots of hugs”.  When you opened it, he wrote, “I want to give you hugs for your life, I want you to marry me and be my wife.”  
Roger: “In front of my children and their children, I was able to propose to Kathy.  It was a very special moment to have a chance at love again.”

Love wins. Again.

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