Oklahoma City florist celebrates colorful 80-year history of family-owned business

When the family broke ground on its location at 5809 S Western, there was “nothin' but mud from there to Norman!” his grandmother liked to say. Today, the 5,000-square-foot shop is rooted in a sprawling metropolis and has a sister shop five miles south.

Every holiday season, as they have for the past 80 years now, the family counts on all of its members to help.

His mother‘s apt motto is “Many hands together and soon the work is done.”

Whitnah, who employs 18 full-time and part-time workers, took a break from the Christmas rush to sit down with The Oklahoman and reflect on his professional and personal life. This is an edited transcript:

Q: Tell us about your roots. Did you know your grandparents well?

A: Sure. They lived just right behind this store, and when I started working here, making deliveries and processing flowers after school at age 16, my grandmother — with her signature red hair — still pitched in, making bows. She didn't know a stranger. My grandfather would sit in a chair near the front door, smoking and watching what was going on. We celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1978, a few years before my grandfather died.

My father, Jack, is their only child. He met my mother, Burny — whose family owned Higdon's Florist and Greenhouses — at a florist convention in 1952; they married the next year. I'm the youngest of their four children. My brother is five years older, and sisters, eight years and 12 years older.

Q: Did you always know you'd carry on the family business?

A: Not really. After graduating with a business degree from OU, I'd advanced to a customer services supervisor with Cox Communications, with whom I started working nights in telemarketing my freshmen year. My brother was a firefighter; one of my sisters is a teacher — but I, and the whole family, pitched in every Valentine's Day and the week of Mother's Day.