Allied Florists of Houston

A Look Back after Ten Years...
Diana, Princess of Wales
July 1, 1961 ~ August 31, 1997

Flowers laid outside Kensington Palace. Photo: Fiona Hanson/PA
(Source: Comment is Free)

Kennington Palace - Diana Funeral - C Walt Reiss

(Source: C Walt Reiss)

(Source: BBC)

(Source: Houston Chronicle)

Elton John at Lady Diana's funeral - Photo source BBC news

Friend Elton John shown with floral tributes and notes.
(Source: BBC News)

(Source: BBC)

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A mountain of flowers, photos and tributes...

Public grieving of this type has become the norm, where strangers manifest their feelings for people they didn't know personally and might only have heard about through the media. But why? "These extraordinary scenes of public bonding are known as communitas," David Ritchie, of Deakins University in Melbourne and a member of the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement, writes in a paper titled Fateful Moments and the Discourses of Grief.

"Conversations are had, stories are shared, images are unearthed and memorials are created. Participants are reminded of their own mortality, in the overall scheme of things." But it hasn't always been this way.

When U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, thousands lined his funeral parade route. But there were no piles of flowers, save those his family left beside the eternal flame at his gravesite in Virginia's Arlington National Cemetery. When Kennedy's namesake son crashed a plane into the Atlantic Ocean almost four decades later, floral tributes sprang up outside JFK Jr.'s Tribeca apartment in New York City and at the Kennedy Museum in Boston.

Where did this fascination with shrines and flowers come from? The earliest manifestations of this type of mass mourning can be found in the 1970s, social scientists say.

Open displays of emotion and the stripping away of the attitude of keeping a stiff upper lip were encouraged by psychologists at that time. Real men did cry, and public displays of grief and anguish were acceptable.

McGill social scientist Estelle Hopmeyer hypothesized we have become a global community rather than a local community through instantaneous media coverage. Planes fly into the World Trade Centre and we are right there, in real time.

The notion of a funeral as a communal gathering has been extended to everyone. It's not just friends and family anymore.

"Placing flowers on an accident site is a communal response," Hopmeyer said. Floral tributes are widely photographed and documented by the media, thus perpetuating the practice, she added.

"With the global definition of community comes a sense of identifying with what happened - 'That could have been my child,' for instance. People feel threatened, and putting flowers on a shrine is a tiny bit of control over our lives." Making a gesture like placing flowers is a reminder that you, too, are mortal, Hopmeyer said.

Source: The Gazette - CANADA.com

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JOHN GOTTI FUNERAL ~ JUNE 15, 2002

SOURCE & MORE PHOTOS: newsday.com

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Once again, flowers offer comfort to the world.
Tributes to Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter...

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Rev. Al Sharpton speaks at memorial service for
The Godfather of Soul - James Brown

Photo: Kathy Willens, for AP

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Floral Tributes for President Gerald Ford

Capitol Rotunda in Washington DC
AP Photo

White House Tribute
Photo: Gerald Herbert, for AP

Washington National Cathedral
Photo: Gerald Herbert, for AP

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ANNA NICOLE SMITH - FLORAL TRIBUTES

On this day in 1977, Florists Transworld Delivery (FTD) received the largest number of flower orders in its entire history.

Where were they to be delivered? "Graceland."

Elvis Presley had died the night before and fans famously flooded by the hundreds of thousands to hoping to see his open casket at "Graceland" estate.

FTD employees claim that more than 2,150 arrangements were delivered to "Graceland."

The arrangements were shaped like lightning bolts, guitars, hound dogs, and stars, as well as more traditional wreaths and bouquets. Many of the arrangements were sent immediately to Forest Hill Cemetery, the site of the burial. After the funeral, Vernon Presley allowed the fans to take away the flowers as mementos.

Today is the 29th anniversary of Elvis' death. Fans gathered to pay their respects, and candles and candlelight vigils outnumbered the flowers this year.

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When the Rulloda family's beloved beta fish passed away, floral designers Lenka Dostalova and Nid Indravudh of Avante Gardens in Anaheim, CA offered comfort to Phil, Cathy, and their daughter with a miniature floral wreath complete with ribbon fish. Cathy claims it was made "tongue-in-cheek", but it is truly an inspired tribute.

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Allied Florists of Houston
c/o Taylor Wholesale Florist
1601 West 21st Street
Houston, TX 77008
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