Beloved Flower Lady of the Great Lakes

Arlene Earl, who for decades sent bouquets of fresh flowers to the captains and crews of Great Lakes freighters, has died. She was 78.

Earl battled cancer for years, and passed away at about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday in hospice with family at her side. She’d lived away from her Harsens Island home on the St. Clair River since late 2015.

Earl was the subject of a 2014 Free Press story and video that explained the heart-warming story of why she started sending flowers to the freighters in the 1980s, and how, in response, freighter captains would sound a loud horn when they passed by her house.

“That was her legacy, for sure,” said her daughter, Debbie Kapanowski. “That was her.”

“She’s the most giving and loving person I’ve ever met in my life,” she said. “She was so well-loved by everyone ... just made people laugh. Very spunky. Never a dull moment in mom’s life.”

Earl’s great-grandfather founded Chris Engel’s Greenhouse in 1883 in southwest Detroit. The shop was handed down through the generations, and Earl grew up in the business. She ran the shop until recent years, traveling the 90-minute route daily.

In the ’80s, Earl wrote letters to captains asking them to sound a salute as the ships passed her house. She did so for a very special reason. When the ships began honoring her request, she showed her thanks by sending bouquets from her flower shop.

“I was brought up in a world that if somebody gave you something, you thanked them,” she said in 2014. “How many people are out there today who will give you anything?”

This giving quickly grew beyond a one-time deal. Before long, Earl was sending flowers through the J.W. Westcott mail boat about five times a year, around the major holidays. Folks at the Westcott, a business in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge that has been around even longer than the flower shop, were happy to accommodate.

“We would probably put flowers on as many as 50 or 60 vessels, when she brought in the batches, like at spring and Father’s Day and Thanksgiving,” said Paul Jagenow, a longtime Westcott employee.

The mail boat would motor out to the center of the river, sidle alongside the massive freighters and hand up the bouquets just like the mail — by putting them into a bucket that would then be hoisted high above to the towering ships.

The flowers “always put a smile on their face,” Jagenow said in 2014. The sailors flooded Earl with letters and thank you notes.

In recent years, the flower deliveries slowed as Earl struggled with her health. Her sister believes the last time Earl was able to send bouquets was around Father’s Day 2015.

Earl overcame breast cancer, but then contracted brain cancer. She lived alone on Harsens Island after her husband, Dick, died in 2010.

The Interlake Steamship Co., which owns nine freighters that haul iron ore and coal on the Great Lakes, posted a tribute to Earl today on its Facebook page.

“We are saddened to share that the final bells have rung for Arlene Earl, the Flower Lady of the Great Lakes. She’s held a special place in the hearts of our mariners for more than three decades,” the statement reads. “She brightened our ships with flowers, and we honored her generosity with countless salutes near her home on Harsens Island, below Buoy #13 on the St. Clair River. Three long and two short, Arlene. You will be missed.”