Posted: 2/5/03

John H. Schumacher spent a lifetime working as a florist

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

As a boy growing up near St. Cloud, John H. Schumacher learned farming skills early in life. It was a foundation that would never leave the Forest Lake man.

Schumacher spent a lifetime working in the floral business, including more than 20 years as owner of Schumacherís Flowers, a popular flower shop and greenhouse on the corner of CR-3 and White Bear Avenue in White Bear Lake.

Schumacher, who learned an appreciation and love for growing at an early age, died on Sunday, Feb. 2 at Birchwood Health Care Center in Forest Lake where he had lived the past five months. He was 97.

He was a native of the St. Joseph area where he was born on a goat farm on May 16, 1905. He spent his early years living on farms in the St. Cloud area, including a farm owned by two uncles near Clear Lake.

He was 8 when his parents, Peter and Anna, moved the family of five kids to Minneapolis. Two years later the Schumachers moved to what is Lauderdale, not far from the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.

He was 12 when he started work for an area greenhouse. His first jobs included pulling weeds, bunching radishes and picking tomatoes, apples and potatoes for the truck gardeners.

In those days, a 10-hour day would net 50 cents in wages.

He tried other jobs as a kid, including stints at selling newspapers on a Minneapolis street corner, delivering papers door-to-door in St. Paul and working as a golf caddy and fetching golf balls from the water at Midland Hills. As a teen, he also worked in bakery and a department store.

ìAs a kid, I always loved the farm,î he said in a 1998 interview with the newspaper. ìEvery vacation, I tried different jobs. Iíd always come back to the greenhouse.î

After high school, he started work in the floral business at shops in Wayzata and St. Paul.

By the late 1930s, together with his wife Irene and four children, Schumacher opened his White Bear Lake business.

Schumacherís Flowers ran from 1939 to 1960. John was in charge of the growing operations while Irene took care of the books and wedding arrangements. The family moved to Forest Lake in 1960 after selling the business.

He continued in the business from 1960 to 1966 as a foreman for Rosackers before retiring. He lived an independent life until last fall when he moved to the nursing home.

Irene Schumacher died on Feb. 10, 1990.

Funeral details

A funeral service for John H. Schumacher will take place at 10:30 a.m. today (Thursday) at St. Peterís Catholic Church, Forest Lake. Visitation is one-hour prior to the service.

Interment will be at Scandinavian Cemetery, Forest Lake.

He is survived by his four children, Beverly (Clarence) Fedje, Bonita Springs, FL, J. David (Sandi) Schumacher, Hermantown, Karen (James) Vilendrer, Wausau, WI, and Peter (Annette) Schumacher, Lino Lakes; 19 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; one brother, Walter Schumacher, Isle; and nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Irene, daughter-in-law Darlene, brothers Jerome and Phillip Schumacher and sister Gertrude Piras.

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