Albert H. Felly, AAF, 90, died peacefully at his home in Green Valley, Wisconsin, on January 17, 2016.
Felly, a member of the Society of American Florists’ Floriculture Hall of Fame, opened his original flower shop in 1949 with his first wife, Mary. Felly’s Flowers soon grew to multiple locations in the Madison area and employed hundreds of people. Felly was a pioneer within the industry: In the early 1970s, he was the first person to use the number “1-800-FLOWERS.” He also developed the underwater flower cutter.
Felly retired in 1991 to “stop and smell the roses,” as he liked to say. He traveled, bought a home in Arizona and started carving whimsical Santas, birds and birdhouses. He married Eadie Graham in 1995 at Shake Rag Alley. Together they wrote a children’s book, “Santa’s New Clothes.”
Industry veteran Carmen Cosentino, AAF, PFCI, a fellow Hall of Fame inductee, wrote a tribute to Felly, his lifelong friend, in his local newspaper column.
Felly’s memory lives on through Eadie; his three children, five grandchildren and four great grand children. Read more.
