Pratt's Flower Lady...

Pratt's Flower Lady Still Stops To Smell The Roses

From: The Pratt Tribune "Homestead" Supplement 04/24/1982

Taking time to stop and smell the roses has been somewhat of a lifetime hobby of Ora Utz of Pratt. Since early in the 1930s Ora has been known for her greenhouse and flower shop and her many talents which went into her work.

On May 5, Ora proudly admits she will celebrate her 89th birthday. And from her many years, she has a lot of fond memories, most of which come from her years as Pratt's “flower lady.”
Ora was born in Kiowa in 1893, moved to Sawyer when she was six months old and lived there a few years before moving again to Wichita, where she spent most of her adolescent years. In 1916, she and her late husband Carl moved to Pratt, at which time he was employed as a window designer for Jetts.
In the early 1930s, Ora explained there was only one florist in town, “but there were a lot of complaints, and I wanted to give people something better.” So Ora and Carl, who were operating a shoe store at 311 S. Main, bought a large refrigerator box, moved it into the store and began selling fresh flowers.
“The business flourished for a year and a half until fire destroyed both our shop and Shrack Clothing,” Ora explained. But she wasn't ready to give up her flowers easily. Soon the flower business became a full time occupation and was operated from the living room of her home at 205 E. Fourth. The garage was used as a workroom and the living room as a display area, but it wasn't long before plans went into effect for the construction of a new, separate shop.
Utz Flower Shop, located where the parking lot for Larrison Mortuary is now, was completed just before World War II. Many area residents who remember the shop will be familiar with the rock foundation around it, and it is a part of the construction which Ora remembers well.
“All the foundation was natural rock and was gathered by our family in Barber County on the Holly Hoss Ranch,” Ora noted. She also remembers how easy it was to get to and from work, as an addition was built on to the back of the shop as a home for the Utz family.
Being close had its definite advantages, Ora said, as “the flower shop business was out of bounds during the war.” With more than 800 soldiers stationed at the Pratt air base, there was always activity. “We hired everyone who was able to work, and were open 24 hours a day. We even established regular flower orders with wholesalers in Denver, Kansas City and Wichita as flowers were rationed,” Ora related.
She said soldiers were constantly ordering flowers to be sent home or to girl friends and can remember as many as 100 to 150 telegraph flower orders being sent through Rock Island Railroad in one day.
Weddings were also more than they could handle in a day during that time. Ora recalled, “Girls from all over were coming here to marry the soldiers.” And the majority of those weddings took place in Ora's home.
“Probate Judge Edgar Barnes had a dislike for marrying couples in his office because he felt it didn't leave them with a very nice memory of the occasion,” Ora explained. So the judge made arrangements with Ora to hold the weddings in her living room by the fireplace, which for several years was converted into a wedding chapel for such celebrations. “We put big baskets of flowers around and even played wedding music on records. If they wanted the wedding catered we'd do that, too.”
Ora also took care of many weddings at the air base, as well as parties and receptions. She said every Wednesday there was a large banquet at the base. “We had to fill a standing order each week for 300 corsages and 100 or more centerpieces. I always sent two people from the shop out to the base and they took care of pinning on the flowers and setting up the tables.”
And while the soldiers at the base created abundant business for Ora, they also provided her with some help. Ora said one of the men stationed here was from Omaha, Neb., and was a florist. So he came to work at the shop handling night duty.
In the early years at the shop, Ora was also a big booster of the Chamber of Commerce. “For several years we hauled greenery from Wichita to decorate Main Street at Christmas. That was before they bought all the fancy lights,” she said. And the flower shop assisted the Chamber with banquets and receptions such as the opening of Park Hills Country Club and Pratt Community College. Since they were often busy doing the catering, Ora noted once in a while they would have a designer from Wichita drive out to help with flower arrangements, “but usually we did it all.”
Ora was not only a helpful florist. She was also a generous one. “We were always very free with our flowers. On Saturday afternoons, church women would bring their vases and we would fill them up with flowers for use on the pulpits for Sunday services.”
When it came to assisting with funerals, Ora was again ready to handle all. Flower agents in most of the surrounding communities would take orders and call them into the shop, and Ora would drive out in her vintage delivery truck to meet the funeral director at the church or cemetery. Only once can she remember there being a problem.
“It was a real cold day and I was to meet the funeral director at a cemetery in Preston. At one time Preston had two cemeteries. Well, I went to the wrong cemetery and they had to hold up the burial until I figured out I was in the wrong place,” she laughed.
But as the years rolled by, the flower business eventually came to an end. It wasn't, however, because Ora could no longer handle the job. “I got to where I couldn't hear very well, so I had to sell my pretty little flower shop.” In 1962, Utz Flower Shop went out of existence when Hazel Meredith purchased it, renaming it Hazel's Blossom Shop.
But to this day Ora continues to design and arrange flowers—for her friends at Villa Manor Retirement Center where she now lives and also for some of the clubs of which she is still and active member. Ora is a member of the Fireside Art Club, the American War Dads Auxiliary, the United Methodist Church and the Pratt County Historical Society.
For the historical society, Ora keeps a running book on Pratt County residents' obituary statistics, placing by many names a picture of their favorite flower.
Her caring ways also remain a big part of her life at Villa Manor. At meal time, Ora assists a table of five residents who have difficulty feeding themselves and is on hand most always to pass out a word of cheer or to spend time with a lonely resident. In fact, she is known quite well for being one of the top two domino players at Villa Manor.
Alice Howard, another resident who will be turning 104 Aug. 20, is Ora's regular domino partner. But the difference in their ages makes no difference in the game. “I have to really keep on my toes when I'm playing with Alice,” Ora laughs. “She doesn't mess around with the little points. Double twelves are her big thing, and she usually wins.”
And just before joining Alice for a game one afternoon recently, Ora finished arranging a spray of poppies for the auxiliary meeting. When asked if she enjoys the work now as much as she did in the past, Ora glanced up with a broad smile across her face and says, “Of course I do. I'll never quit designing. I guess it's just something I was born to do.”

Read more stories about Pratt in WW II at The Pratt Army Air Field History Center.