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- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 3 Jul 2001.
Verbia Lee Presnell obituary
- [S144] Phone Record.
Name Donna Shoemaker
Also Known As Doug V Shoemaker
2nd Also Known As Name Douglas V Shoemaker
Residence Date 10 Jan 2009
Residence Place Newport, Tennessee, United States
Birth Date 15 Dec 1954
Phone Number (423) 623-1735
Phone Number Recorded Date 10 Jan 2009
Address 703 Highway 321
Address Continued Newport, Tennessee 37821
Address Date 10 Jan 2009
2nd Address Dearing Rd
2nd Address Continued Morristown, Tennessee 37813
2nd Address Date 15 Jun 2001-29 Oct 2007
3rd Address 579 PO Box
3rd Address Continued Newport, Tennessee 37822
3rd Address Date 01 Nov 1995-01 Aug 1996
4th Address 132 E Broadway
4th Address Continued Newport, Tennessee 37821
4th Address Date 01 Sep 1993-20 Aug 2008
Possible Relatives Cecil Gilland Shoemaker, Charles Earl Shoemaker Jr, Clay Randolph Shoemaker, David W Shoemaker, Donna Shoemaker, Dorothy I Shoemaker, Doug V Shoemaker, Doug Shoemaker, Douglas Shoemaker, Gilland Cecil Shoemaker, Jewell Kay Shoemaker, Joyce A Shoemaker, Penny B Shoemaker, Rachel L Shoemaker, Rebecca A Shormaker, Shoemaker Ux Shoemaker
Record Number 71724263
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com).
Blessings from tragedy
Most business owners would see a fire that destroyed their shop as a tragedy. Doug and Joyce Shoemaker, owners of Shoemaker's Florist & Greenhouse, saw it as an opportunity. Now, eight years after that fire, the Shoemakers continue to see how what could have ended their business has only strengthened it. The Shoemakers are currently in the planning stages of a 9,000 to 10,000-square-foot building that will house Shoemaker's Florist & Greenhouse and will have office space for five or more other businesses as well. The new building will be partially built on the same spot where the old store burned. The configuration and design process hasn't begun yet, but the Shoemakers say they hope to finish that process and break ground on the new store within the next six months. It's been almost a decade since the store burned, but the family said they still consider themselves blessed in many ways by the fire and the things that happened afterward. Even as he and his wife Joyce stood on the sidewalk across the street and watched his floral shop burn to the ground on Dec.16, 1997, one hour after his birthday on the 15th, Doug Shoemaker chose to think of the fire in a positive way. "It was the day after my birthday," he recalled. "We were watching the shop burn. Joyce was standing there beside me crying and I turned to her and said, 'Look, we've never had a holiday season off before. This year we will.'" After the fire was over he insisted on taking the unexpected time off to rethink how they could and would run the business. "I've always been like that," he said, smiling. "I get up every morning and count my blessings and then move on down the road." That practice made it easier for him to see the silver lining in the thick clouds of smoke and flame that consumed his business right in front of his eyes. "I just saw it as an opportunity to change things and to rethink how we were doing things," he said. "Before the fire we were only closed three days a year. We were open seven days a week, more than 65 hours a week. A lot of times we worked on Christmas Day even," he said. It took Joyce and his two daughters a little bit longer. "I just sobbed," Joyce Shoemaker said. "I think the only thing worse than losing your business would be losing your house." "Yes, but we still had a house to go home to," Doug Shoemaker said. "That was a lot." "It was like losing a family member," Rebecca Shoemaker said. "It was hard." Rebecca was in college at the University of Tennessee when the fire struck. Friends called her and she thought they were teasing her. Then her parents called and she knew it was all too real. Rebecca Shoemaker nodded, remembering. "We'd be in the shop on Christmas Day and be working. One year we had nine funerals to prepare flowers for. We were complaining about having to work on Christmas Day," she said. All that changed after the fire. The Shoemakers cut back on their hours. Instead of being open every day they're open from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. and they close early on Saturdays. They'll still work long hours for seasonal occasions and holidays, but now they're taking a little more time to do other things. The family dealt with more than a fire that holiday season. "We had been up to the Washington Mint earlier in the year," Doug Shoemaker said. "While we were up there our van was broken into and some things were stolen." However, a matted display of 32 one-dollar bills they'd left in the van was not stolen. "It was in between some sheets of cardboard and the thieves didn't take it," Doug Shoemaker said. Later, Joyce Shoemaker put the display behind the couch at their home for safekeeping before it was matted. The house was broken into - but again, the display of money was not stolen. The money was then framed and Doug hung the artwork in his office. The fire started the next day. But firemen had placed a water cannon at the entrance to the office. Water hit the display and his desk and again, the money escaped unharmed. "It had to be dried off and re-matted," Joyce said, "But it survived." If the symbol of small wealth - 32 matted and framed one-dollar bills - could survive, so could they. The other unexpected blessing from the fire came from the citizens of Newport and the surrounding area. "We got more than 1,000 telephone calls from people saying how sorry they were about the fire and to offer their condolences," Doug Shoemaker said. The store's billing and accounting system was destroyed in the fire but people called or came out to the Shoemaker's house anyway to pay on their accounts. "One large account even paid so we could make payroll that month," Doug Shoemaker said. The family business went back to their humble beginnings. Doug's parents had started the business in 1965 in the basement of the family home. Now, the business opened again in the basement. "Three people called to offer us buildings to set up shop in, people were so kind, so generous, so wonderful," Joyce Shoemaker said. A huge wedding planned for the holidays could have been derailed, but wasn't. "I happened to have the original order in my briefcase," Joyce Shoemaker smiled. Other florists called to offer help and the wedding couple worked with the Shoemakers to make sure the wedding went off well. This holiday season the family continues to see the blessings in what most would term tragedy. While they lost some irreplaceable items, like the antique countertop that came from The Coffee Pot and that was valued at $10,000; or the medicine cases that came from Nelson Bales Drugstore and were used for storage or display; the antique piano and other items; they gained more. They saw how kind the community was, what great employees they had and what a wonderful place Newport really was. "It was just amazing, people would come up to us in the grocery and hug us and tell us how sorry they were," Joyce said. "It was just great to see what a generous community we live in."
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name Joyce Anne Presnell
Event Type Marriage
Event Date 28 Sep 1973
Event Place Cocke, Tennessee, United States
Gender Female
Spouse's Name Douglas Vaughn Shoemaker
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