Harper's Flowers was a family business founded in Atlanta during the depths of the Great Depression by Doyal Harper's mother, Adelle Harper. It was one of several enterprises that Mr. Harper's parents tried, but it was the only one that survived that economic disaster.
Mr. Harper helped out at the florist shop as a part-timer while in school. Then after working in defense plants during World War II, he joined the family's flower business full time in partnership with his brother, William Harper, and sister, Auverne Brady, both since deceased.
"Dad's role was chiefly as business manager. But when things got busy, everyone was expected to pitch in, so he did his share of flower arranging and making deliveries," said his son, Glenn Harper of Silver Spring, Md.
"Since Dad had an intense interest in all things automotive, he also was the one who did the buying of our delivery trucks and supervised their maintenance," he said.
When Mr. Harper did make deliveries, he did so with ease. "Dad had a phenomenal recall of Atlanta streets, even the ones that go every which way," said his other son, Doyal Harper Jr. of Williams Bay, Wis.
He said his father also was the emergency repairman when something went wrong. "I recall Dad fixed the burners in our greenhouses when we had to protect our poinsettias and other holiday plants from a freeze."
Over the years, Harper's Flowers had several well-placed locations -- at Virginia and Highland, at Peachtree and 12th, and at Spring and 16th, among them.
Mr. Harper retired formally in 1977 and passed the business on to his son Glenn and daughter-in-law Patrice, "but Dad came into the shop practically every day thereafter until we sold the business in 1987," Glenn Harper said.
Doyal Alexander Harper Sr., 92, of Sandy Springs, died Monday at Piedmont Hospital of complications following esophageal surgery. His memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday at the Georgia Memorial Park Funeral Home chapel in Marietta.
Mr. Harper was as handy around the house as he was at his shop. He kept a woodworking shop in the basement of his Garden Hills home and used it to make handsome furniture, plus frames for his wife Emily's paintings and stands for her sculptures. He also was a talented woodcarver.
"Doyal could see a vision in wood and make it real," said his niece, Meredith Johnson of Sandy Springs.
For decades Doyal Sr. and Emily Harper were constant dance partners -- whether in a ballroom or at a hoedown. "Dancing was an essential part of what their generation viewed as entertainment," Mrs. Johnson said.
After his wife died in 2002, Mr. Harper moved from Garden Hills to Mount Vernon Village, a retirement residence in Sandy Springs.
There he arranged for the music to play on. For New Year's Eve celebrations in 2007 and 2008, he hired a band to come perform and urged all his condo neighbors to take to the dance floor. "He even had the ladies in wheelchairs in motion," Mrs. Johnson said.
Survivors also include four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
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