Back From Nothing!

My cousin, Lois Lawrence

Here's a copy of a story about my cousin Lois whom I mentioned below:

ADA REID/SUN HERALD
Like the watch that “takes a licking and keeps on ticking” or the battery that “keeps going and going and going,” folks who know Lois Lawrence of Long Beach can vouch for that to be true of her as well.
    Lois and her late husband, Warren, opened Lois’ Flowers on Aug. 1, 1959, on Jeff Davis Avenue in Long Beach. She had been in that location across the street from Harper McCaughan Elementary School ever since, until Katrina struck. Hers is among the oldest continuous businesses in Long Beach. Lois’ uncle had built that building in the 1940s. It housed a movie theater first and then a dance hall.
    Camille blew the window out of the shop and caused damage, but nothing like the wind and water from Katrina. Two weeks after Katrina destroyed her shop and everything in it and Lois had had a good cry over it, her great-niece, Kathie, who works with her, came to her and said, “Aunt Lois, let’s go find a place to open Lois’ Flowers.”
    With no flood insurance, she had no funds to begin again but soon money was coming in from around the country. With that, and family and friends it was possible for her to open again in a new location at LaRosa Street and Pineville Road in a strip shopping center there.
    She said she is grateful to all those who helped and especially to her loyal employees and family and the church crews who came to help. She plans to rebuild in her Jeff Davis location, and she believes God’s hand was with her making it possible for her to re-open in September, so soon following Katrina.
    Lois was born in Long Beach to Addie and Avington Woodcock. She had three sisters and five brothers. All five brothers, Emile, Leslie, Odus, Leroy and Harold and her sister Lillian are deceased. Her sister Lyra Allen and brother-in-law, Jerry, live in Long Beach and her sister, Dorothy Collins and brother-in-law, Dayton, live in Pass Christian.
    Lois graduated from Long Beach High School across the street from her shop, which is now Harper McCaughan Elementary School. She started working for Loraine Flowers in Gulfport and soon found that was her calling. After she spent 12 years there, she and Warren opened their own shop in Long Beach. Warren was from Long Beach and a friend of one of her brothers. They corresponded while he was in the Navy during World War II and when he came home, they married on April 12, 1946.
    Her mother and sisters Lillian and Dorothy worked with her and she has had four generations of family work with her since the beginning. Niece Donna Asher, great-niece Kathie McCool and an “adopted” niece, Betty Adams, plus her delivery person, Jaime Seppy, and part-time employee, Randy Glenn, are with her today.
   Lois has a birthday on Feb. 4, and no one asks her how old she will be. We do know she has been arranging flowers for 59 years. She has been a member of Antioch Baptist Church in Long Beach all her life and started playing the piano at age 13 and the organ when the church bought one. She took music from Allie Toomer. She taught pre-school Sunday School for many years.
    Lois loves to fish and crab with her sisters and their favorite place was in Waveland, which is not there anymore, so they will find another spot. They also love to go shopping together.
    Lois’ Flowers is now on LaRosa temporarily, because she plans to rebuild in her original location in the future. The building has been deemed structurally sound. They can still be reached at their old phone number, 863-9767 and are available for flowers, fresh or silk, and plants for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, funerals, Mardi Gras, other occasions and holidays from 9 to 5 weekdays and 9 to 12 on Saturdays.
    Valentine’s Day has always been their busiest day of the year. On the busy holidays, Lois has a tradition of paying off-duty firefighters to deliver flowers, which works out well since they know all the addresses, and she has extra help that people love.