J.W. Erwin, 63, of Erwin's Florist Dies
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ J.W. Erwin was a third generation florist who loved the simple things--beautiful floral bouquets, his country, and the men and women who served it. He embraced a handful of sentiments that remained dear to him throughout his life.
The sacrifices of our men and women serving in Afghanistan and Iraq were gripping to him. He couldn't get them out of his mind. He worked tirelessly for the betterment of our veterans and their families.
He was proud to march down Main Street in Du Quoin with one hand on the huge Elks Club American flag that symbolized our freedom.
J.W. died unexpectedly Tuesday night at Marshall Browning Hospital following an ambulance call to his home.
He was 63.
Funeral arrangements are pending at the Searby Funeral Home.
Erwin, a cancer survivor, had complained of being light-headed and nauseated in recent days.
His death probably breaks the chain of family-owned floral business ownership that dates back to shortly after the turn of the century with humble beginnings in Tamaroa. It was a very proud heritage.
J.W. had stayed true to the family business for decades, and only recently decided upon a new beginning.
He planned to entrust the Du Quoin shop to longtime employees and accept a job offer from Kevin Hampleman, superintendent at Arch Mineral's behemoth Black Thunder Mine in Gillette, Wyoming. He was going to drive a mine haulage truck at one of the largest surface mining operations in the world. He looked forward to the change and said only recently that if it didn't work out "I'll be back."
That was one reason for his insistence that the Du Quoin shop stay intact, and he said he had no doubt that the shop's longtime employees could handle it.
J.W.'s interest in the family's heritage in the floral business were beginning to fade. His mother retired from the floral business in January 2005 and Erwin the Florist in Pinckneyville was closed after 64 years.
The shop was a sister business to the original Erwin the Florist that was opened in Du Quoin in 1925 by J.W.'s grandparents. It flourished on South Washington Street before a devastating fire destroyed it. There was some thought to rebuilding the shop there, but instead the family continued at Erwin's present location on West Main Street in Du Quoin.
Erwin's began when Wendell Erwin's parents opened up greenhouses and sold vegetables on Rt. 51 from a little one-room shop that stood for decades just north of the Sunfield wye. Eventually the Erwins switched from vegetables to flowers and opened their first Du Quoin location in 1925.
Erma Erwin--J.W.'s mother-- who operated the Pinckneyville shop, married into the family on November 23, 1940, and she started working in the Pinckneyville shop on April 17, 1941. The shop was on South Walnut St., next door to what was then Kohlsdorf's Shoe Store.
At that time, a young man could buy a dozen roses for his sweetheart for about $5. A sweet pea wedding bouquet cost only 75 cents when the shop opened in 1941.
The business had always been a family affair. Erma said J.W. was "born into the business." Daughter Linda--J.W.'s sister-- was only two weeks old when Erma began taking her to the shop. For Erma and Wendell, the florist's shop truly was a partnership until he passed away in 2000--he worked in the greenhouses, she arranged floral displays, and he delivered them on his bicycle. Over time, the mode of transportation improved beyond the bicycle--J.W. talked about fond memories of a 1939 Ford and a 1941 Chevrolet owned by the business.
It's a good thing the business acquired more wheels--at one time, the greenhouse provided wholesale flowers for florists from Centralia to Harrisburg. Wendell delivered flowers to customers on the northern Centralia route as well as to those on the southern route, which took him to Murphysboro, Harrisburg, and Carbondale. The Erwins closed the wholesale business in 1999.
One of the most important changes for the Pinckneyville shop came in 1951, when it re-located from Walnut St. to Main St. And of course, the December 31, 2004, closing of the Pinckneyville shop changed Pinckneyville's business landscape forever.