Marie in one of her famous hats is surrounded by her 3 Granddaughters, her Daughter-in-law, Stephanie and Marie’s Husband of 63 yrs, Andrew at a Ice Cream Social, Holy Spirit Church. *File Photo by Paul Wang

I heard some very sad news on Sunday, October 11, 2015 about the passing of Mrs. Marie Petrick, who together with her husband, Andrew owned Petrick’s Flower Shop. Petrick’s Flower Shop has been a family owned business in Perth Amboy for over 100 years. This is quite a feat, especially for a small family run business with competition not only locally, but also through the internet.

There’s one thing that the internet cannot compete with, and that is the human touch and the love and care as someone as special as the Petricks are able to provide. They were my go-to florist when I had to send sympathy arrangements.

A Little bit of Flowers and Sunshine from Marie

I would simply pick out a plant in their Flower Shop and Mrs. Petrick would decorate it with flowers that she picked out and arrange around the plant herself. Sometimes if I didn’t have a chance to go to the store right away, I would call up and tell her the type of plant that I wanted and just say to her: “You know what to do.”

We recently received a thank you card from the recent widow of a dear friend who passed away. It said, “Thanks so much for the plant. It is a lasting gift of love.”

The same sentiment has been expressed every time a plant with a floral arrangement prepared by Mrs. Petrick has been received by the deceased family.

The first time I remember meeting Mrs. Petrick was at a family gathering. When I say a family gathering, it’s not that I went to her house. Many times if there were a community event, especially at the Perth Amboy Fire Department Spaghetti Dinners, the whole Petrick Family who lived locally would attend. This would be the three generations.

Often when you see three generations of families it’s sometimes at sad events.

But it’s always a pleasant surprise when you saw the Petrick family because they were always there during happy occasions.

In the write-up in the paper, it stated how proud she was of her grandchildren. Looking at them when they’re around her, they were just as proud that they were lucky enough to have such a warm and loving grandmother. When we delivered papers to the Flower Shop, she or her husband always had flowers waiting for me. If that day was gloomy, I knew that there would be a gift of sunshine waiting for me. That sunshine would not only consist of flowers, but of the Petricks’ sunny smile, and disposition and quick conversations we would often have.

Marie Petrick and Son, Bill attend the Victorian Tea at the K of C * File Photos by C. Maxwell

Let’s face it. There are some people that you may try to avoid, but this was not the case with the Petricks. When I would see the family make an appearance at a community event, I always made it a point to walk over to her to have a quick conversation. She and her husband, Andrew were married for 63 years and they worked alongside each other. You could see the love and respect between the two of them and that carried over to their children and grandchildren. This is a living testament of the love that Marie and Andrew passed on and something that their grandchildren will never forget.

The last time I saw Mrs. Petrick was on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 and she was her sparkley, cheerful self, as usual. She always had on her trademark hat. I would never had dreamt that three days later she would not be here. It’s still a shock, but I know that her spirit will be a constant presence inside the flower shop and the greenhouse.

Marie Petrick was such a big part of the success of Petrick’s Flower Shop. She had such an innate insight to personalize any request.

From myself and the entire staff of the Amboy Guardian, we will miss you, Mrs. Petrick. I thank you so much or your support and words of encouragement and the sunshine you always gave me.

Our deepest condolences to the Petrick Family.

With Love, Carolyn M.