Photo

Photo detail

Maris Angolia (top row, fourth from right), gathered her team of award-winning designers and employees for a photo celebrating Karin’s Florist 58 years in business. The Fairfax Chamber awarded the family-owned business its 2012 Outstanding Corporate Citizenship Award for small business.

Stories this photo appears in:

Tease photo

Arranging Flowers to Deliver the Right Message

Karin’s Florist keeps family traditions blooming.

Family Traditions Blooming In 2011, Maris Angolia, president and CEO of Karin’s Florist in Vienna, was searching for a way to honor her father, Bill Dukas, who founded the floral company in 1956 with his father-in-law George Raptis. “My father was 83, and I wanted to find a way to show him how much he meant to his longtime customers, how much they appreciated the role our family’s flower shop played in their lives over the years,” Angolia said. Angolia held a “Memories” contest, asking customers to send in remembrances of Karin’s. Angolia still gets emotional reading the letter from contest winner Susan McCabe, a lifelong Karin’s customer. McCabe wrote about her father, a former Navy Admiral, who was living in Manor Care Nursing Home in Chantilly after a debilitating stroke. McCabe’s mother visited her father twice a day. “Flowers have always been a way in our family to say ‘I love you,’” McCabe wrote in her memories letter.

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment