William Harry (Bill) Wear
1936 - 2016
Starting when I was about 7 or 8 years old, considered old enough to walk to and from school alone, I used to pass by Wear’s Flowers & Garden Centre four times daily.
In the winter months, there wasn’t much to see; however, in the spring, I couldn’t keep away.
I was drawn to the tables of annual and perennial flowers, set out adjacent to the sidewalk; and, most especially to the fallen blossoms that called to me like some people are drawn to chocolate.
One day, as I stood gazing longingly at the wilting cast offs, I was approached by an older woman I thought was going to shoo me away. Instead, she nicely told me, that I could take any of the blooms off the ground, but I must never pick them off the plants.
I knew better, and had never once considered picking the growing flowers; but, I was thrilled to receive permission to scavenge for discarded blooms.
I would squat down and reach far under the tables to collect the cast-offs that I gingerly carried home to my mother: She never failed to display my floral offerings in a glass or bowl of water on the kitchen table, no matter how wilted they were when they arrived.
This past week when Mr. Bill Wear, founder of Wear’s Flowers & Garden Centre, suddenly passed away, online photos of Mr. Wear and his late wife, Marilyn, brought back a flood of memories.
I recalled my last conversation with Bill Wear this past spring when he advised me about the best fertilizer to use for my tomato plants.
I realized that Marilyn Wear, the older lady who had been my benefactress all those years ago, was actually much younger than I remembered. In fact, she had probably not been much older than my own mother, at the time.
The picture of Bill Wear holding a baby goat brought back recollections of taking my children and more recently grand-children to visit the menagerie of farm animals that have inhabited the garden centre property for decades. Many years ago, Wear’s actually became the adoptive home of my two pet leghorn chickens when they outgrew our tiny chicken coup.
Wear’s Garden Centre has been a mainstay in the Bartonville neighbourhood for over 60 years. Bill and Marilyn Wear’s son Scott and daughter Sandi grew up in and around the family business and have continued to make it thrive to this day.
As for me, I continue to shop at Wear’s before venturing out to other garden centres, because I love to shop local: It's a habit this flower girl learned young at the invitation of a kind and generous lady.
It's funny how some things never change: at nearly 60 years of age, I continue to bring fallen blossoms into the house from my own garden, and my mother still never fails to display them in a glass or bowl in her kitchen.
