Photo by Mike Lamb Marshall Floral owner Dawn DeSchepper works on a flower arrangement inside her shop on Main Street in Marshall.

MARSHALL — Dawn DeSchepper says it’s a funny story how she got into the floral business.

In between her junior and senior year at Marshall High School, DeSchepper was looking for way to get out of school early.

“I wanted to get out of school at half day. One of the things we could do was the horticulture program (in school),” she said.

She started working for Marshall Floral owner Barb Gorecki 47 years ago inside a building on the corner of Fifth and Main streets. The store was eventually moved to its present location on Main Street. Malcolm and Eloyce Nord owned the store next before moving to Georgia.

DeSchepper then worked for a manager before taking over ownership of the store.

“I still did everything, so I figured I could do it on my own,” DeSchepper said “I called the landlord and took over the building.”

She said it was an easy transition with help from her family.

“My family was behind me. They picked up everything I could not do,” DeSchepper said.

That was 36 years ago, and she says it’s been tremendous through the years. She can’t imagine what she would have done instead of the horticulture career.

“I have been here for a long time, she said. “There’s never a boring time. There’s aways something going on. Things are new and other things come through again.”

A longtime client list is an advantage of being in business for a long time, according to DeSchepper.

“My clientele goes way back. Sometimes you just know when they are coming in because they come in every year. When you are doing memorials, same thing, you can pretty much count on those customers calling back. Good clientele for so many years,” she said.

DeSchepper now has customers who are getting married with parents she prepared flowers for their wedding.

“So I have done generations of weddings,” she said.

While the sign in the front of the store says open to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., it’s definitely not a 9-5 job.

“If you need me, you will find me here. It’s not going to be at home,” she said. “There are times I don’t have a day off for two or three months. We work Saturdays. Got to work Sundays to keep up with it. Lots of times I will shut the store down and sit in the back and do bookwork too.

Of course prom is another busy time, but DeSchepper says phones make the job easier.

“When the girls come they will have a picture of their dress on the phone. They will have a picture of flowers they like. Working with that makes it a lot easier than looking through a book trying to find ideas for them.”

DeSchepper also said she currently employs five people, mostly part-timers.

“I have excellent help. It’s been tremendous through the years,” she said. “One of the gals was here for 20 years.”

Her husband, Brian, also helps out.

“My husband just retired, so he’s our go-to guy. He’s the honey-do list thing. Can you run and get this? Can you run and do that?”she said.

While she takes time to travel and visit family and her grandchild, she has no plans to slow down any time soon

“I have enjoyed it. I have great people working for me, family working for me. They (family) were here at the beginning. If I didn’t have family it would never have worked,” she said.