‘It was never a job for him’: Longtime Mount Prospect florist dies at 97
Carrying on the legacy of his grandfather and father, Harold Busse turned Busse’s Flowers into a flourishing retail business that continues today after more than century.
Over the years, Busse, who died Saturday, Jan. 25, at age 97, provided residents of his hometown, Mount Prospect, and surrounding towns with flowers for every occasion.
“He felt he was helping anyone who needed to be cheered up,” said his wife of 77 years, Carol Busse. “He felt flowers really did that.”
Busse belonged to a historic Mount Prospect family. He was descended from Friedrich and Johanna Busse, the first members of the Busse family to arrive in the village. They emigrated from Germany in 1848 and settled on a farm at what is now Algonquin and Busse roads.
Busse’s Flowers opened in 1916 in Mount Prospect, a year before the village incorporated. Harold began working there while a student at Arlington High School. It was there he met his high school sweetheart who would become his wife.
After serving in the Army from 1946 to 1947, Harold returned to the business and transformed it from a wholesale firm shipping flowers to the Chicago market, into a retail operation.
“We were fortunate, because the town was growing and people wanted flowers,” Carol said. “It was never a job for him.”
The business began at Elm Street and Evergreen Avenue — Harold and Carol lived across the street during their first nine years of married life. The shop moved to Northwest Highway near Elm Street and then to Northwest Highway and Emerson Street. Today, Busse’s Flowers and Gifts is in Rolling Meadows at 3445 Kirchoff Road.
Harold handed the reins of the business to his daughter, Linda Seils, and her husband Paul, who died in 2020.
Seils said her father even helped the Rolling Meadows shop as recently as a year and a half ago, when the store would deliver plants to his garage for him to prepare for shipment.
“I don’t know if he ever officially retired,” Seils said.
Seils remembered the shop as a home away from home — she would help planting containers and working on corsages when she was 10.
Harold loved traveling, yet never moved from the 300 block of Evergreen Avenue in Mount Prospect, living at three different locations on the block.
Harold’s grandson, Daniel Busse, called him his greatest inspiration for the person he aspired to be.
“He was unwaveringly kind and honest, and he loved his family with his whole heart. I’ll miss him dearly and am so thankful for the time we had together,” he said.
Visitation is from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday at Friedrichs Funeral Home, 320 W. Central Road, Mount Prospect. The funeral service is at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 100 S. School St., Mount Prospect.
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