Susan Stribling Howkins approached her flower arrangements as if they were works of art.

At Boxwood Gardens & Gifts in Buckhead, her designs featured live orchids, hydrangeas and other favorite flowers. Sometimes a customer would bring in a container and ask Mrs. Howkins to create a centerpiece for a special occasion. Then they'd simply stand back and observe.

2003 file photo (ENLARGE)

Susan Howkins encouraged one of her daughters on her 17th birthday to 'live life every minute and find the humor.'

"People really loved to watch her work because it was like watching someone do a painting," said her daughter Mary Delia Gaines of Atlanta. "Her eye for composition and balance and color were amazing, and she had a green thumb that I hope someday I'll have."

The memorial service for Mrs. Howkins is 2 p.m. Wednesday at St. James Episcopal Church.

The 55-year-old Atlanta resident died of an aneurysm April 16 at Gatwick Airport in London, England. Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Howkins collapsed at the airport after a flight from Atlanta to London, where she was going to help her older daughter move home after a six-month stay there.

"I can't say enough about the people in the UK and how much they helped us," said her husband, John "Jack" Huger Howkins Jr., who flew back from London with his wife's ashes after she was cremated there. "Susan was so vibrant and alive that it's a shocker that she would leave us so suddenly."

The couple married 15 months ago, after they met at a wedding and dated almost six years.

After they met, her husband said, "we went to Johnny's Hideaway and danced the night away and were pretty much inseparable since that time. Susan was just the love of my life."

The Marietta native graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor's degree in fine arts in 1974 and worked at Boxwood Garden & Gifts for about four years.

After she met Mr. Howkins, she split her time between Atlanta and the couple's home in Savannah, where she started her own business.

Her big break came when she was asked to do the flowers for the G8 Summit at Sea Island. From there, she was hired to create indoor and outdoor arrangements at The Cloisters and other upscale properties, which kept her running back and forth between jobs.

But her travels kept her well-stocked with ideas. When she visited England last year, she stopped by Hampton Court Palace and soaked up its spectacular scenery.

And as she spent more time in Savannah, "she was very inspired by the whimsical landscapes," her daughter said.

From her second home, Mrs. Howkins could look out onto water and marshland — fulfilling her lifelong dream to live by the coast. She spent hours walking on the beach, learning to scuba dive, sailing with her husband and playing with her Boykin Spaniel, Buoy.

"She had an air about her that was so fun-loving and caring," her daughter said.

"For my 17th birthday, she gave me a note that said, 'Live every minute and find the humor and remind me to do the same,' " her daughter said. "That really wraps up how she wanted to live her life."

Survivors other than her husband and daughter include another daughter, Anne Bolling Gaines of Atlanta; her mother, Anne Willingham Stribling of Marietta; and her brothers, W.L. Stribling IV of Atlanta, R. Claiborne Stribling of Snellville and Robert W. Stribling of Marietta.