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OUR SILVER THREADS MEMOIRS
By Bonnie Hewitt
By Bonnie Hewitt
Joan Fleetham is a recent member of our senior centre where she is very active volun-
teer. Joan is on our Board of Directors and in addition she looks after the newspaper
article that is written each week for seniors. She has taken on the responsibility of
kitchen liason and setting up the Golden Oldie Cookbook that she hopes will be pub-
lished this year. Yet with all this I Knew about her, I wanted to know more about her,
for instance where did she get all those nice classy things she brings in to help with
decorations and those lovely wreaths she helped to put together at Christmas time?
teer. Joan is on our Board of Directors and in addition she looks after the newspaper
article that is written each week for seniors. She has taken on the responsibility of
kitchen liason and setting up the Golden Oldie Cookbook that she hopes will be pub-
lished this year. Yet with all this I Knew about her, I wanted to know more about her,
for instance where did she get all those nice classy things she brings in to help with
decorations and those lovely wreaths she helped to put together at Christmas time?
Well, I asked Joan for her story , she replied, "I will tell you a story about my flower
shop and it's customers."
This story she told me I like to title: FORGET-ME-NOT!
Now, I know you are saying, look at that she has spelled Knot wrong in the title - but
please read on.
Joan told me how she and her sister Joyce ran a flower shop in the city and you are
probably thinking Gee! that must have been nice, quiet, being surrounded by flowers
and pretty things every day. Joan pointed out to me that she got to live all the emo-
tional lives of her customers through her flower shop , from babies being born, wed-
dings, showers,
of course, the natural being death and even the cheating spouses, young and old lov-
ers.
Some customers are just more memorable than others and she told me the story of two
sisters who were well heeled and regular customers at her shop But they never came in
together, they hated each other. The sisters didn't like you to mention the name of the
other sister - so to this day Joan keeps their names a secret.
One day Joan received a call from a very hysterical woman sobbing and crying saying
that her sister was dead. Joan finally realized that it was one of the sisters that was
feuding with her sibling. The crying lady stopped long enough and told Joan that she
wanted to have a wreath made and the casket spray no price was too high but it had to
have Forget-me- knots in it to grace a very expensive casket that she had purchased.
Joan explained these flowers were very hard to get and had to be shipped in from a
great distance but the sister didn't care.
A lot of community members were also buying up flower wreathes and planning on
attending the funeral services.
The day of the funeral, family and friends of the deceased quietly sat down and waited
for the Minister to begin the service. He started his sermon when suddenly they heard
a terrible whaling and an almost animalistic sound coming from the area of the casket.
The minister stopped, and so did the noise. Again the minister started to speak and
another blood curdling shriek and moan, like a wounded animal came from the area of
the casket. This time he left the pulpit and went to investigate the area of the sound.
The sounds were so horrendous that some of the congregation left their seats and
slowly made their way to the door, they were fearing the sounds from the casket and
wanted to escape. The minister went to the family pews and spoke to the surviving sis-
ter, who was dead drunk. It is not known what the minister said but it was quiet for
the remainder of the service.
The congregation were then led to the cemetery for the final internment and as the
minister started the graveside service the bereaved sister threw herself upon the casket
in the open grave. The casket shifted and tilted and the sister slid under the coffin.
Now, she was covered and sinking in mud and swearing every nasty thing she could
think of condemning her dead sister to Hell.
Finally someone yelled "better get her out of there", but no-one could seem to grasp
hold of her to pull her to the surface because she was so slippery with mud. A ladder
was finally put down the grave site and she was able to climb up and out.
By this time friends and family were swiftly making an exit from the cemetery, along
with the family car and the minister addressed the congregation saying we shall post-
pone the graveyard service for today and have it next…
before he could finish the sister yelled "No! Bury the Bitch today!
The next time you go into a florist shop and order flowers for that special occasion -
you might jus want to order some "Forget-Me-Knots" but keep in mind "The forget-
Me-Not".
Thank you Joan for a most unforgettable story.
shop and it's customers."
This story she told me I like to title: FORGET-ME-NOT!
Now, I know you are saying, look at that she has spelled Knot wrong in the title - but
please read on.
Joan told me how she and her sister Joyce ran a flower shop in the city and you are
probably thinking Gee! that must have been nice, quiet, being surrounded by flowers
and pretty things every day. Joan pointed out to me that she got to live all the emo-
tional lives of her customers through her flower shop , from babies being born, wed-
dings, showers,
of course, the natural being death and even the cheating spouses, young and old lov-
ers.
Some customers are just more memorable than others and she told me the story of two
sisters who were well heeled and regular customers at her shop But they never came in
together, they hated each other. The sisters didn't like you to mention the name of the
other sister - so to this day Joan keeps their names a secret.
One day Joan received a call from a very hysterical woman sobbing and crying saying
that her sister was dead. Joan finally realized that it was one of the sisters that was
feuding with her sibling. The crying lady stopped long enough and told Joan that she
wanted to have a wreath made and the casket spray no price was too high but it had to
have Forget-me- knots in it to grace a very expensive casket that she had purchased.
Joan explained these flowers were very hard to get and had to be shipped in from a
great distance but the sister didn't care.
A lot of community members were also buying up flower wreathes and planning on
attending the funeral services.
The day of the funeral, family and friends of the deceased quietly sat down and waited
for the Minister to begin the service. He started his sermon when suddenly they heard
a terrible whaling and an almost animalistic sound coming from the area of the casket.
The minister stopped, and so did the noise. Again the minister started to speak and
another blood curdling shriek and moan, like a wounded animal came from the area of
the casket. This time he left the pulpit and went to investigate the area of the sound.
The sounds were so horrendous that some of the congregation left their seats and
slowly made their way to the door, they were fearing the sounds from the casket and
wanted to escape. The minister went to the family pews and spoke to the surviving sis-
ter, who was dead drunk. It is not known what the minister said but it was quiet for
the remainder of the service.
The congregation were then led to the cemetery for the final internment and as the
minister started the graveside service the bereaved sister threw herself upon the casket
in the open grave. The casket shifted and tilted and the sister slid under the coffin.
Now, she was covered and sinking in mud and swearing every nasty thing she could
think of condemning her dead sister to Hell.
Finally someone yelled "better get her out of there", but no-one could seem to grasp
hold of her to pull her to the surface because she was so slippery with mud. A ladder
was finally put down the grave site and she was able to climb up and out.
By this time friends and family were swiftly making an exit from the cemetery, along
with the family car and the minister addressed the congregation saying we shall post-
pone the graveyard service for today and have it next…
before he could finish the sister yelled "No! Bury the Bitch today!
The next time you go into a florist shop and order flowers for that special occasion -
you might jus want to order some "Forget-Me-Knots" but keep in mind "The forget-
Me-Not".
Thank you Joan for a most unforgettable story.
