Founder's daughter sold flowers at Pesche's for more than 20 years

For more than 20 years, Helene E. Enzenbacher was the friendly face behind the sales counter at Pesche's Flowers in Des Plaines.

"She took orders for years," says her daughter, Janis Enzenbacher. "She really contributed to its reputation for friendliness and service."

Possibly little known to its many retail customers was that Mrs. Enzenbacher was the daughter of the founder, Fred Pesche, who started the business in 1923, when he purchased five acres in Des Plaines.

Mrs. Enzenbacher passed away Monday. The former 40-year resident of Mount Prospect was 83.

Shortly after Pesche's opened, Mrs. Enzenbacher was born into the family that eventually included 11 children. Her father originally developed the business as a carnation specialist, growing cut flowers for florists and wholesale markets in Chicago.

Growing up, Mrs. Enzenbacher had little involvement with the business. When she was 14, her mother died, leading her to drop out of high school to help run the house and raise her younger siblings.

"It was really too bad, my mother always dreamed of becoming a nurse," her daughter, Janis, a physician, adds.

By 1941, her father had expanded the business by adding a retail conservatory next to the carnation houses, before adding an unexpected work force: German prisoners of war, based at Camp Pine, a German POW camp located just outside of Des Plaines.

After the war, the business expanded again, this time adding a supermarket, which remained part of the concept for the next 30 years.

By the 1950s, Mrs. Enzenbacher had married her husband, Leroy, and started having children of her own.

"Her hobby was her family," her daughter says. "She had come from such a large family, that being devoted to her husband and children was very important to her."

When Mrs. Enzenbacher's four children were in high school, she found time to help out in the family's florist shop, combining her own love of flowers and gardening, with her many contacts throughout Mount Prospect and Des Plaines.

Family members credit her with helping to grow the retail business, while her brother, Frank, and his son, Chris, expanded the nursery to include landscaping and aquatic garden divisions.

Mrs. Enzenbacher was preceded in death by her husband, six years ago. Besides her daughter, she is survived by her daughters, Monica (Fred) Thulin and Elizabeth (Robert) Van Schaick, and son Michael (Sheila), as well as five grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. Raymond de Penafort Church, 301 S. I-Oka Ave. in Mount Prospect.