Page 22 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2020

PEOPLE
The Story of Pugh’s Floral Shop, Inc.
story by Kimberly Rasmussen photos courtesy of Pugh’s Floral Shop, Inc. and The Sun Herald
On a peaceful afternoon in late October, 1945, Joanne Martin (Foster) sat wide-eyed in her family home looking in wonder at boxes
upon boxes of ribbons and bows. The oldest of seven siblings, like any small child, she gazed at all the colors with excitement. Her father, Joe Watts Martin, Sr., sat quietly in the middle of the living room, working e ortlessly to prepare an arrangement of owers.
All Saints’ Day was quickly approaching, and mums would serve as the altar centerpiece at Our Lady of Victories Catholic Church. To Joanne, these mums, brought from her uncle’s ower shop in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, were simple yet beautiful. Still, the owers, along with Joe, Sr.’s work, represented something more: a familial institution was in the works, and on December 15, 1945, Pugh’s Flower Shop, Pascagoula was born.
Since its inception, Pugh’s
has been a family a air. Born
of values and steeped
in tradition, Pugh’s has served the local community for 75 years. “Papa Pugh,” an Irish immigrant who cultivated vegetables and owers in Ponchatoula
by way of Chicago, instilled hard work and dedication within his family. His
love of owers was passed down through generations and it was this passion and dedication to the oral industry that yielded the Pugh’s we know and love today. Papa Pugh’s daughter, Rose Emma
Pugh, would later marry Joe, Sr. Together they pioneered
Jim works on an arrangement.
22 | November 2020
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American Beauty Rose
Rose Emma and
Joe Watts Martin, Sr.