By Randall Turk
Transcript Business Editor

Earl Morren, founder of "the granddaddy of Norman flower shops," is glad he and a partner skipped the "salad days" when they opened Earl's Flowers -- Gifts.
Earl, now sole owner of the shop, has completed 35 years of doing business in Norman. A 36th is about to be history. There have been a few stumbles along the way, in step with the slings and arrows of Norman's economic fortune, he said. But hard work, creativity and customer loyalty have helped Earl's clear all the hurdles.
A sister-in-law, Lucille Knapple, partnered with Earl to open Earl's Flowers -- Gifts on April Fool's Day, 1970. "Lucille was working for another flower shop and I worked for an aircraft company, he said. A friend of ours wanted us to do a daughter's wedding. Lucille and I did the flowers out of my kitchen."
When admirers inquired what flower shop Lucille and Earl were with, "we were at a loss," Earl said. Previously, his only floral experience had been making deliveries for Hampton's Flowers, a Norman shop that went out of business long ago.
"In March, 1970, when we announced we were starting our shop, Hampton's gave us six months," Earl said. "The first weekend we were in business was Easter weekend. It was snowing.
"Hampton's called us up and asked us if we would be making salad out of our Easter lilies. I was determined to buckle down and make a go of it."
Since then, Earl has seen the good and the bad days roll past. "When the oil boom was going on, we'd see a lot of hundred dollar bills. When a hundred came in, everybody in the shop would have to come up and look at it. Now they're quite common."
Oklahoma's brief oil boom was followed by the big bust that flattened most of Norman's banks, battered the real estate market and terminated many a small business. Although shocked by all that, Earl's Flowers did not wilt.
In the earlier days, when roses were $15 a dozen and carnations $7.50, Earl's delivered flowers everywhere in Norman at no charge. Norman's growth and strung out configuration, along with phenomenal hikes in the price of gasoline, ended that practice.
"At first I charged 50 cents or a dollar for delivery," Morren said. "I worried about how our customers would react. Now the delivery charge is $7. Our customers say, 'We buy gas, too.' People are very understanding."
Earl Morren, the third youngest of nine children, grew up on his grandfather's homestead east of Norman. "Back in my days we walked one and a quarter miles to school and one and a quarter miles back," he said. "We all had chores to do. We were taught the value of work."
Creativity and business sense might come with the DNA. Morren's father was a Cleveland County Commissioner. A brother operates a Norman interior design company. Another brother has a concrete business and another is a builder. The only brother who stayed in farming has a spread in Spencer.
Earl's only daughter, Sherri Morren Ormes, now manages the business. She has worked in her father's flower shop since she was 11. Her husband Dennis, is supervisor of deliveries.
The shop has 12 full-time employees. "One girl has 30 years with me," Earl said. "Everyone else has 15 to 20 years here. When they want off to go do something, they might as well. With holiday hours as they are, I have to give and take."
In 1954, Earl was among the first class to graduate from the "new" Norman High School bordered by Main Street and a rutted dirt Berry Road.
"I look back on all the oldtimers, now deceased who did business with us," he said. "Their families come in and reminisce. They're amazed at the things you know about their families."
Six years ago, Earl bought out Lucille Knapple's interest in the shop, originally located next door to the Hiland Dairy plant on Porter. He closed that location shortly afterward and moved the shop up the street to 131 N. Porter.
Earl, now 70, says "Customers want to know when I will retire. I'm not planning on it as long as I can get up every day and get the creative juices flowing."
Valentine's Day is by far the largest single holiday in the flower business, he verifies. "The order has to be delivered when the husband gets home or we have one unhappy customer. It's easier to deliver to businesses. Women love to get flowers at the office."
Mother's Day, over a weekend, is the second largest single day holiday, Earl says.
Christmas decoration, a separate category, lasts over a month. Commercially, Earl's begins decorating Christmas trees for banks and other large establishments in mid-November.
The floral business is hard work, long hours," Earl says. "We don't get to enjoy the holidays like a lot of people."
"Easter is not much," Earl said. "Women don't wear the corsages to church anymore. Professionals Week (It used to be Secretary's Week) is bigger than Easter."
Earl now is serving the weddings of second- and third-generation customers.
Weddings these days are simple and elegant, with fewer floral decorations, Earl finds. "People order flowers and pick them up on the day of the wedding to avoid a $50 or $100 service charge and decorate themselves."
Junior and senior proms at Norman's two high schools are other floral occasions. "I feel sorry for the kids where a girl attends one school and her boyfriend the other. That can be very expensive."
For Earl's, the funeral business has been declining. "It upsets me to see 'In lieu of flowers, the family requests a gift to...,' printed in an obituary," he said. I would much rather see 'A memorial fund has been established...
"A funeral is sad -- even sadder when nobody's there and there are no flowers."
At Earl's, every flower order is personalized. "I don't like to use unqualified personnel or the assembly line method," Earl said. "The person who pulls the order fills it." Flowers are guaranteed to live at least 24 hours. If not, Earl's makes it right.
Earl's was named No. 1 Norman florist in The Transcript's recent "Best of the Best" reader's poll this year -- for the sixth time. "We're always delighted," Earl said.
He said he wanted to thank the people of Norman for their business. "It has been a pleasure to serve my customers for all their floral arrangements," he said.
After nearly 36 years in the business, Earl says he treasures the old days. "I wouldn't take anything for them," he said. "But I don't ever want to go back."
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