Mother's Day is around the corner. What will you get for your mother? Will you get some flowers? If you lived in Romeo between 1948 and 1982, you might have gotten them at Marv Blackett Romeo Florist on South Main Street. It was owned by Marvin K. Blackett, the subject of today's Photo of the Week.
In the early 1950s, The Romeo Observer ran a series called "Meet Your Merchant." Each issue contained an article about a businessperson in Romeo. They usually detailed the business that the merchant ran as well as how they got started.
Marvin was featured in the "Meet Your Merchant" series for the June 12, 1952 edition of The Romeo Observer highlighting his floral business, which he ran with his wife Rosalie over 30 years. This photograph of him tending to the flowers appeared in that issue.
The article goes into how Marvin got into gardening and eventually into selling flowers. It states that when he was 14, his family moved from Detroit to Romeo in 1939, aquiring an eight-acre truck farm. It would later adjoin his flower shop and greenhouse. This was where he got the "green thumb."
What catapulted Marvin into the floral business was his stint in the Navy from 1943 to 1946. He was an aviation/ordinanceman 3rd Class and went through "some of the most hotly-contested little islands in the South Pacific."
When Marvin served at a West Coast naval station, he got a part-time job at several floral establishments there. He later said, "That was my first contract with florists, outside of buying an occassional corsage."
Marvin liked the floral business so much that "if fate was kind," he would open his own in Romeo. And, that is what he did after he got discharged in 1946. He had help from his parents and his brother Wilbur. Father Norman put up the building. Wilbur joined the organization, and Mother Ruth helped out "when the situation call[ed] for an extra hand."
Marvin was able to open his business Romeo Florist in 1948. It would later be known as Marv Blackett Romeo Florist. In case anybody is wondering where his store was located on South Main Street, it would've been in between the Wellbridge of Romeo nursing home and the Kinnard Chiropractic Health Institute.
Also in 1948, Marvin married Rosalie A. VanKoughnett, and they would remain together until his death in 2013. This couple is special to the Romeo Community Archives because we house their collection of photographs taken at various parades, including the Romeo Peach Festival.
To see the the Marvin K. and Rosalie A. Blackett Collection, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at rca@romemodistrictlibrary.org or call (586) 690-4890 to set up an appointment.
If you want to learn more about Marvin and Rosalie Blackett and other Romeo-based florists, you can contact the Romeo Community Archives at the email and phone number above.
Have a wonderful Mother's Day!
Source: The Romeo Observer, June 12, 1952, p.II-1 and October 16, 2013, p.2-A