Jan. 13--James Harney ran Aberdeen's Wedding Flowers in Chicago for more than 50 years, providing flowers for thousands of weddings, including the December 1969 union of crooner Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."
Harney secured that job by taking the risky step of cornering the market on off-season tulips in Holland, figuring correctly that those particular flowers would be needed given Tiny Tim's signature song, his falsetto rendering of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." Some 10,000 tulips were used for the event.
"He just got this idea," said his wife, Helen. "He got all the tulips and he thought they'd have to come to him."
Mr. Harney's business also provided flowers for the weddings of hockey player Stan Mikita, baseball player Glenn Beckert, a son of Mayor Richard J. Daley, a daughter of Malcolm X, a daughter of President Richard Nixon and radio personality Wally Phillips.
Harney, 77, died of dementia and multiple myeloma on Sunday, Dec. 27, in his Des Plaines home, his wife said. He had lived in Des Plaines since 1969.
He was born in Oak Park and attended Schurz High School. He went to what was then the Navy Pier campus of the University of Illinois for two years, then transferred to North Park College to complete a bachelor's degree in business administration.
At a party in 1959, a friend introduced him to Helen Ernst. After he completed a hitch in the National Guard, the two married in 1961.
Harney began his business in 1958, using the know-how gained working for various florists and working out of borrowed space in other shops and later a space his wife described as a "long closet."
"All through high school he worked at flower shops, at first just cleaning up, then designing flower arrangements," his wife said of the roots of his interest in flowers. "It just grew from there. He just saw a future in it."
In the early 1960s, he scraped together enough money to open a tiny florist shop on Montrose Avenue. He named his business "Aberdeen's Wedding Flowers" so that it would be the first florist listed in the phone book.
He made the commercial sign above the shop window by himself for $200 with foam board, glue and spray paint. His wife remembers being pleasantly surprised that the sign actually looked good and held up to the Chicago weather.
In the late 1960s, he built his flagship store in the 3800 block of North Harlem Avenue with a broad storefront for sales, long rows of tables for his floral designers, huge coolers, a delivery bay, and an apartment on an upper floor for his parents to live in. Harney ran the business until 2010, when he sold it.
"At one time he had up to 30 designers in his shop," said James Papajohn, the co-owner of the Flower Firm in Chicago. Papajohn went to work for Harney when he was about 12 years old and worked part time for him for about 10 years.
"He was a great mentor," Papajohn said. "He taught me everything I know when it comes to running a large-scale shop."
Papajohn said Harney might do as many as 150 weddings on a weekend.
Harney talked to the Tribune about his business in 2001.
"What's great about this business is that there is rarely a slump," he said then. "When daddy's little girl gets married, there's nothing too good for her."
Harney had a deep concern for children facing difficulties. For several years, he and his son-in-law Frank Davis collected toys in his shop at Christmastime to distribute to children in Chicago-area hospitals.
In December 2003, thieves broke into the shop and stole more than 125 toys. After media reports about the incident, more than 1,000 people called or visited the store to pledge more than $25,000 and donate at least 4,000 gifts, Harney told the Tribune.
In addition to his wife, Harney is survived by daughters Shelly Fang, Anita Davis and Amy Warlick; and eight grandchildren.
Services were held.
Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter.
