Talk Around Town Tuesday – Kindness Meets a Hurricane by Lisa J. with photos by Marcy Jamrok Photography
This week’s Talk Around Town Tuesday brought tears to my eyes and huge smile to my face. The story of Rosemary’s Heritage Flowers & Gifts is one that will remind you of the goodness that exists, and Hometown Happenings is happy to feature this “gem” of our City. The below story is told by one of our followers, and when we spoke with Paul Rodriguez, the excitement and love is still in his voice when reciting how Rosemary made a huge impact in his life that he will never forget.
“On August 23, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. It was devastating. The Category 3 rated Hurricane killed almost 2,000 people. The storm continued to devastate the Gulf Coast for over 1 week.
I had been working in Chicago for General Services Administration (GSA) as a Lease Contracting Officer (LCO) and 
when the request was posted seeking persons interested in taking a temporary “detail” to assist in the “Katrina Effort”,
I immediately called my wife (at home with a 9 month old baby and a 5 year old daughter) to discuss my desire to “help out”. She understood and supported my decision.
I had no idea what I was getting into. I will refrain from discussing too many details of situations I encountered. I can simply say that it was horrible. I flew out of Chicago, O’Hare on September 12, 2005. Upon landing in Baton Rouge, I immediately reported to the Medical Facility in the airport and received 5 inoculations and discovered that I would be living for three weeks in a trailer and was assigned to setting up DRCs (Disaster Recovery Centers) and relocating federal agencies to alternative leased locations. I even leased a football field at a New Orleans College for the US Army to park their vehicles.
Our main office was set up in Baton Rouge which was about an hour and 30 minutes from New Orleans. In New Orleans, there was no electricity, phones rarely functioned and gas was practically unavailable. But it got worse. On September 18th, Hurricane Rita struck many of the same areas initially devastated by Katrina. My assignments continued to take me from Baton Rouge to New Orleans each day. I carried plastic tanks of gas in the trunk of my vehicle and unfortunately, I ran out of gas and ended up not being able to make it back to Baton Rouge. I slept in the rear seat of the car parked in an airport hangar. The roof had blown off and I was welcomed to share C-rations with the US Army that had set up camp there as well. I awoke the morning of September 26, sweaty, exhausted, frustrated and hungry and realized it was my Wedding Anniversary date! I couldn’t let the day pass without contacting my wife.
Unfortunately, in the area I was in, phone connectivity was non-existent. The communication towers all had been leveled. Upon discussing my dilemma with a few of my new hangar room mates, I was told that emergency calls could be made at a mobile government facility that was powered by a generator. I located the mobile facility and was informed that I could make one call.
As I thought about what I was going to say and try to be upbeat on this special day, I knew that I would break down 
and end up turning a happy moment into an overly emotional and negative phone call. I decided that I would use the one call I had to try to order my wife flowers for our special day.
I couldn’t remember the names of the florists in Crown Point where we had just moved to in 2000. I asked the staff there if they could assist in looking up a florist for me. They gave me the name to Rosemary’s Heritage Flowers.
I called and Rosemary answered.
I was very emotional and explained my predicament that I needed to have flowers delivered to my wife that day. Rosemary’s voice was calm and warm and understanding. I ordered a dozen roses and provided my credit card information and Rosemary assured me that it would be taken care of.
Due to my gas shortage predicament, I was unable to get back to Baton Rouge until the following day. After another night spent in the vehicle, I returned to Baton Rouge on September 27th and was finally able to contact my wife.
She was overjoyed. I was still highly emotional and so thankful that Rosemary’s Heritage Florist kept their promise and delivered a Beautiful rose arrangement.
Upon returning home, I later discovered that Rosemary did not charge me for the flowers. I went to visit her at the store to personally thank her. Again, I was very emotional and again, she understood and said, “Thank You” to me “for my service”.
To this day I have kept my pledge to Rosemary that I would only order flowers from Rosemary’s Heritage Florist and have frequently reminded her employees of the story of Rosemary’s Wonderful Heartwarming gesture.
I will never forget it.”
-Paul Rodriguez
Thank you, Paul for sharing this incredible story, and thank you Rosemary for proving that little acts of kindness 
truly do go a long way!
For all your flower needs please check out Rosemary’s Heritage Flowers at 51 West Walnut St., Crown Point, IN 46307, https://www.rosemarysheritageflowers.com/ or give her a call at (219) 663-1640.
Hometown Happenings is also extremely grateful to Rosemary as she will be supplying all the carnations for our Moms on Mother’s Day at the Run Like a Mother 5K/2K on May 12th. Be sure to register! You can do so here.