Florist on Indiana Ave. got start in Goose Hill

5/12/2008

Lucille Kearney Boyd, 87, who operated Boyd s Florist out of her home on Indiana Avenue for more than 40 years, died Tuesday in Foundation Park Care Center.

Her son, Wayne, said he didn t know the exact cause of death.

A Toledo native, Mrs. Boyd entered the flower business in the latter half of the 1950s after suffering an on-the-job back injury at the Willys-Overland Co. Jeep plant.

She started out by making and selling floral arrangements from the kitchen of her family s house in the old Goose Hill area of North Toledo, her son said.

The business moved to Dorr Street about 1958 before taking root in Boyd s new home at 747 Indiana Ave. in the early 1960s.

Mrs. Boyd s early interest in flowers had turned into an all-consuming passion.

Along with making and selling arrangements, she handled all of the business s bookkeeping.

Her late husband, James A. Boyd, whom she married in 1937, began to make the deliveries after receiving an injury of his own at the Jeep plant, their son said.

She loved to see the smile on people s faces when they get flowers, Wayne Boyd said. To have the knack to be a florist you ve got to love people.

Mrs. Boyd became well known in the florist community, serving as president of Northwest Ohio Teleflora for several terms beginning in the 1970s.

Nancy Germann, a co-owner of Klotz Floral Gift and Garden Center in Bowling Green, recalled how Mrs. Boyd created gorgeous arrangements through the years in the shapes of hearts, pillows, crosses, and other motifs for funerals and other events.

She had a very good talent, Mrs. Germann said. She was very pleasant with her customers and she was always willing to do one step more.

Mrs. Boyd and her husband opened Boyd s Beauty and Barber Supply Shop in the late 1960s, fulfilling one of Mr. Boyd s long-running entrepreneurial ambitions.

Situated on Monroe Street and later Nebraska Avenue, the shop closed after about three years so that Mrs. Boyd could focus her energies on the flower business, her son said.

She just loved flowers. My mom used to work in that shop and there would be three, four, sometimes five weeks when she wouldn t come out of the house, she was so busy, Wayne Boyd said.

She continued to operate the shop until Mr. Boyd s death in 2002.

The Boyds raised five children, and in later years enjoyed trips throughout the country in their motor home. Mrs. Boyd was a member of Braden United Methodist Church and the Jewell chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star.

Surviving are her daughter, Barbara Lewis; sons, Wendell, Raynard, and Wayne Boyd; sister Alice Brown; 14 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the C. Brown Funeral Home, 1629 Nebraska Ave. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday in Braden United Methodist Church, where a wake service will be held an hour before.