Florist Shop

The subjects of streets and safety topped the agenda for the West Bradford Supervisors. Residents of the Bradford Glen subdivision have asked the supervisors to take over maintenance of the street light at North Glen Road and Marshallton- Thorndale Road. Chairman Thomas McCaffrey said Tuesday night that the Bradford Glen Homeowners Association had made the request. Township manager Jack Hines estimated that the yearly bill could come to $250. Supervisor Jonathan Wood said the sum was a small price to pay for safety in such a dense development.

J. Liddon Pennock Jr., 90, a floral artist, landscape designer and cultural activist who decorated society weddings and the Nixon White House, died Thursday at his home at Meadowbrook Farm, the estate and gardens he cultivated in Abington Township. Mr. Pennock was born in Ocean City, N.J., and grew up in Philadelphia, where his family operated a Center City florist shop for more than 100 years. He graduated from William Penn Charter School and attended the agricultural college of Cornell University.

William T. Bradley 3d, 74, a well-regarded Center City florist, died Thursday at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Mr. Bradley, who lived in Radnor, was a talented floral designer who provided arrangements for Queen Elizabeth during her 1976 visit to Philadelphia. A resident of the Main Line for nearly a half-century, Mr. Bradley owned the nationally known Pennock's florist shop at 15th and Chestnut Streets before retiring in the early 1980s. After leaving the business, he spent his time gardening.

Robert Fahey could watch Tuesday's apartment fire in Prospect Park for only a few minutes. He then retreated to his florist shop a block away, at 1026 Lincoln Ave., where the agonizing memories flooded back. Five people, including three children, died in a similar fire at 11th and Lincoln Avenues 10 years ago, the building now occupied by Cicconi's Auto Body Supply. Tuesday's fire gutted the four apartment buildings between Cicconi's and Naz's Place, a tavern at 1110 Lincoln. The quick work of passers-by averted a tragedy Tuesday as about 17 residents were alerted and led from the buildings before flames engulfed the entire second story.

The version of Little Shop of Horrors at Bucks County Playhouse proves that this funny, funky little musical of delights is a show to be savored, even if the production is not as piquant a theatrical repast as one might hope. It is a meal in which some of the ingredients are not quite right, although the service, in general, is satisfactory enough. Eating, of course, is what Little Shop of Horrors is all about. The hungry character is Audrey II, a person-eating plant, that during the course of the show grows from a cute little pod in a pot to an imposing, demanding maw with an insatiable appetite for human flesh.

Margaret Mary Hilferty Coyne, 90, of Lansdowne, who owned Pappas Flowers in Suburban Station for 30 years, died of heart failure Tuesday, Jan. 3, at home. Mrs. Coyne began working at Pappas after graduating from West Philadelphia Catholic High School in 1939. In 1960, she became proprietor of the shop. She enjoyed the daily interaction with her commuter customers, including bank and insurance company executives who hired her to decorate their buildings at Christmas. She also did floral arrangements for weddings, and early in her career gave flower-arranging demonstrations at the Philadelphia Flower Show.

The man walked into the lobby of Temple University Hospital yesterday afternoon, pulled out a .25-caliber automatic pistol, and apparently simply picked a victim out at random. It happened to be Raj Kurup, 21, a hospital technician who was sitting on a brown padded chair near the admissions desk, police said. "What's your name?" he yelled at Kurup. And then he yelled again: "What's your name? What's your name?" Kurup may have yelled something back, something like, "Why are you asking me that?"

When Scallan's Florist Shop, which had been at 15th Street and Edgmont Avenue here for more than 100 years, closed its doors in 1998, that could have been seen as symbolic of the decline of an already struggling neighborhood. Edgmont Avenue is only a few hundred yards west of the Widener University campus. It is 0.3 miles east of the Crozer-Chester Medical Center in nearby Upland Borough. Still, at that time it had none of the spin-off businesses that surround some medical and university campuses.

On Jaffa Road, the florist shop that was damaged by a bomb blast in May is up and running again, its rosy storefront freshly glazed. The Sbarro pizza parlor 400 yards away, where a suicide bomber killed 15 people Aug. 9, still wears sheets of plywood over its wounds. Between them, equidistant from these twin symbols of Israeli fear and perseverance on Jerusalem's main commercial corridor, a jeweler opened for business yesterday, wondering when the next attack would come. About 2 p.m. he had his answer.

Officials call it a small detour on this riverfront city's long road to becoming the next Manayunk. Business owners who favor a Special Improvement District say it's a chance to step back, fine-tune the details, and develop a plan that is equitable for all involved. But ask opponents of the district - a self-taxing alliance of commercial and industrial property owners, merchants and landlords - why the ordinance to establish it was tabled and they will say it's a sign of a larger problem.

Margaret Mary Hilferty Coyne, 90, of Lansdowne, who owned Pappas Flowers in Suburban Station for 30 years, died of heart failure Tuesday, Jan. 3, at home. Mrs. Coyne began working at Pappas after graduating from West Philadelphia Catholic High School in 1939. In 1960, she became proprietor of the shop. She enjoyed the daily interaction with her commuter customers, including bank and insurance company executives who hired her to decorate their buildings at Christmas. She also did floral arrangements for weddings, and early in her career gave flower-arranging demonstrations at the Philadelphia Flower Show.

The Camden County Technical School in Gloucester Township appears to be a regular campus of bricks and mortar, but behind the school lies a secret garden the public may not know about. Now through mid-June, the public is invited into this secret world to partake of the beauty of carefully cultivated gardens, whose paths lead to waterfalls that drop into ponds filled with freshwater fish. Wild animals, such as white-tailed deer, red fox, red squirrels and nonpoisonous snakes, make their homes in a wildlife area in a far corner.

J. Liddon Pennock Jr., 90, a floral artist, landscape designer and cultural activist who decorated society weddings and the Nixon White House, died Thursday at his home at Meadowbrook Farm, the estate and gardens he cultivated in Abington Township. Mr. Pennock was born in Ocean City, N.J., and grew up in Philadelphia, where his family operated a Center City florist shop for more than 100 years. He graduated from William Penn Charter School and attended the agricultural college of Cornell University.

On Jaffa Road, the florist shop that was damaged by a bomb blast in May is up and running again, its rosy storefront freshly glazed. The Sbarro pizza parlor 400 yards away, where a suicide bomber killed 15 people Aug. 9, still wears sheets of plywood over its wounds. Between them, equidistant from these twin symbols of Israeli fear and perseverance on Jerusalem's main commercial corridor, a jeweler opened for business yesterday, wondering when the next attack would come. About 2 p.m. he had his answer.

Officials call it a small detour on this riverfront city's long road to becoming the next Manayunk. Business owners who favor a Special Improvement District say it's a chance to step back, fine-tune the details, and develop a plan that is equitable for all involved. But ask opponents of the district - a self-taxing alliance of commercial and industrial property owners, merchants and landlords - why the ordinance to establish it was tabled and they will say it's a sign of a larger problem.

When Scallan's Florist Shop, which had been at 15th Street and Edgmont Avenue here for more than 100 years, closed its doors in 1998, that could have been seen as symbolic of the decline of an already struggling neighborhood. Edgmont Avenue is only a few hundred yards west of the Widener University campus. It is 0.3 miles east of the Crozer-Chester Medical Center in nearby Upland Borough. Still, at that time it had none of the spin-off businesses that surround some medical and university campuses.

The remnants of what once was the Bazaar of All Nations, the marketing innovation that introduced interior stall shopping to Greater Philadelphia, goes up for auction on Saturday. The Clifton Heights landmark closed in 1993, but its owners, the Clyman Family, had kept a lot of its old Bazaar stock in storage. An expired lease that's forcing the Bazaar out of its building is in turn forcing the sale of thousands of items ranging from antiques and air-conditioners to silk flowers and security cameras, Scott Clyman said.

Phil Jaye, a stand-up comic whose sharp one-liners built a loyal following in the Northeast region that bridged the generations, died of cancer yesterday. He was 72 and lived in South Philadelphia. Jaye worked clubs and casinos from the Catskills to Atlantic City with occasional stops in Miami and the Midwest. He opened over the years for a roster of stars from Patti Page to Al Martino. He was working as recently as last spring in Atlantic City with singer Jimmy Rosselli. In the past eight years his name was known to a far wider audience for his hosting of the Phil Jaye Celebrity Golf Tournament at the Brandywine Golf Club in Delaware to benefit the American Cancer Society.

A rash of armed robberies - including two early-morning holdups yesterday at gas stations in Radnor and East Goshen - is being investigated by a task force of police officers in Delaware and Chester Counties, authorities said. The robber, who implies that he has a gun, has hit a number of gas stations, convenience stores, and small retail stores in strip shopping centers since Sept. 21, said Detective Sgt. Jay Hess of the East Whiteland Police Department, who is coordinating the investigation in Chester County.

Charles F. Kremp Jr., 79, founder of a chain of florist shops, died of cancer at his home in Willow Grove on Friday. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Kremp graduated from Northeast High School, then went to work in a local flower shop, discovering a natural affinity for the business. He spent more than 40 years as a florist, interrupting his career only to serve in the 104th General Hospital in England during World War II. In 1946, Mr. Kremp and a partner opened the Muller & Kremp Flower Shop in Glenside.