Standing on the stoop of the home of Jim Owens on a rainy day with soupy skies the clouds are filled with the promise of spring, I wait for him to answer his bell.  I cannot help but notice as I pulled into the drive that he still has a handful of wayward roses in bloom.  I would expect nothing less considering he is the namesake of Owens Flower Shop, which is practically an institution in Lawrence.

The door opens with a gust of warm air.  Jim is impeccable dressed with a blazer and slacks on, he stands slightly hunched and with the aid of a cane, these seem to be the only signs of his age.  He just celebrated his 90^th birthday with 115 of his closest friends.  He is definitely no shrinking violet, he says, “I try to go work out at the gym as often as possible.  I work on lifting weights and cardio.  I played handball for 40 years until my knees gave in.”  Not only is Owens staying in top form physically but he belongs to a coffee club, Rotary and he still drives.  But aging is no picnic, “The first thing I do every morning is read the obituary’s, you lose a lot of your friends and family when you get to be my age.”  Jim lost his beloved wife, Laura, last year after 63 years of marriage, 3 children, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

The home is filled with family photographs and when I ask Jim what some of his life’s highlights are he simply taps his cane and toes to a rhythmic beat on the floor, probably in time to the Nat King Cole song that is piped through the house on satellite radio.  After a little thought, “My family is my life’s highlight.  Although, it is lonely without Laura, I don’t particularly enjoy eating alone.”

A ringing comes from his blazer pocket, his cell phone.  He explains that he has gone completely wireless, not only that but Owens spends a good deal of his time on his computer email his grandchildren, or listening to his MP3 player at the gym.  When we are in the kitchen he points out with trepidation and enthusiasm his passport renewal application, “I figure I should be ready to travel.”  I agree knowing that he went exploring on five different treks just over the course of this summer alone.  But Lawrence is home and has been since his days as a student at the University of Kansas.

“I met Laura my senior year.” Jim states, “Usually, I sat in the back of the classroom but I decided that maybe I’d sit in the front to see how people get A’s.  I sat next to Laura.  She had just broken up with her boyfriend and wanted nothing to do with men, she kept trying to put this blond between us.”  That was it; the seed of love had sprouted in Jim’s heart.  He graduated from KU in 1937 and had James Naismith as one of his professors that final semester.  He followed Laura to the University of Iowa for their graduate work where Jim earned an MA in Business.

Once the two graduated they did not know what to do, they moved back to Lawrence in 1945.  Owens recalls, “I had to make a living, and it was strictly by accident that I got into the flower business.  We moved here because we wanted to live in Lawrence but I had no job.  I heard that Ward’s Flower Shop was selling their business, at the time it was located where the US Bank is on 9^th & Massachusetts, I was scared to death.  I was $40,000 in debt for a greenhouse and some old trucks.”  So, Jim and Laura threw their hat in the flower market ring in 1946 and Ward’s Flower Shop became Owens Flower Shop.  They leased the shop space for $60 a month.  The Ward’s began the business in 1923, making the greenhouse, The Garden Center, which today is Sunrise Garden Center and the flower shop, having been together serving customers for 83 years of consecutive business.

Owens has done much more than simply beautify Lawrence with landscape plants and fresh flower arrangements; he has enriched our community with his time and devotion.  He began joining every group and club he could think of to get his name known in the community when he and Laura first moved back to Lawrence.  But Jim does not talk about it much, he is humble and when I ask him questions about his civic services he tends to ask me questions in return.  I get the feeling he is as equally as interested in me as I am in him, which is one of the many reasons why Jim Owens has numerous friends and admirers.

I snoop a little more and happen to stumble upon an old newspaper clipping he has sitting out as reference material.  He served as the mayor of Lawrence from 1963-64, he sat on the School Board as President and has been the President of the Chamber of Commerce.  But Jim does not want to toot his horn and talk about the past; he is more interested in the present.  Next to his favorite chair he is reading the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and the book “My Personal Best” by John Wooden.  “I keep up as much as I can,” states Owens.

The rain has let up bringing anticipation of another beautiful spring and Jim has to get to a Rotary meeting, he grabs a pair of garden shears from the kitchen drawer and insists on walking me out to my car.  We stop in the rose garden, which are his favorite flowers, where he snips the last four remaining blooms and generously gives them to me.   Lawrence is the oasis we call home because of people like Owens, kind, generous, civic-minded and uplifting people who made the bedrock of Lawrence sturdy and strong for generations to come.