Rosemary...Actually

Actually, I only worked at the Vogue Shoppe for one year. Mrs. Blow had retired by the time I got there and working for the new designer was just not what I had bargained for. I went from there to Jacobson’s Store for the Home a very high end complete home store. They carried everything from expensive teaspoons to a Baker sofa. The concept of the store made it very easy to work:  one could do the entire house from the can opener to the Kindel Dining Room. We had everything at our fingertips from the best fabrics to the most beautiful wall coverings. The store itself was quite beautiful the first floor was referred to as HOME DEC. with bath& bedding, kitchen, china, crystal, and gifts actually more accessories than gifts. Working there was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.  The people that worked there all seemed to LOVE the Store. There was a pride I’ve never experienced. It was the friendships one developed there as much as the Store itself that made those years so special.

The most lasting of all of the friends I made during those years is a very special person: fellow designer Rosemary Greer. We have been friends almost 40 years. I met her one afternoon in the store. She was a customer having just moved to Kalamazoo from New York State. We became friends almost instantly. Within a very short while I had convinced her to come and work at the Store. I don’t think she was ever sorry I can’t think of anyone more memorable in my years there. She is an extremely capable designer and I have learned much from her over the years. I remember her loving Judd Scott wallpapers and her use of those bold prints was wonderful I’ve never seen anyone put them to better use. She also introduced me to Louis Bowen Papers (both lines I believe are gone today).

 In those days we were always dressed to the nines and had a certain image we had to keep up.  Jacobson’s had an idea of what we were to be and look like and we were! Rosemary always wore beautiful clothing. In the winter a full length mink coat remember in the 70’s we could still kill anything…she loved big dark glasses and of course we all smoked. It was considered a good idea to smoke with one’s clients: it relaxed them and kept them buying longer. We had such a wonderful time both in and out of the store we were all very socially intertwined. Rosemary lived in an enormous ultra modern house in a posh neighborhood and gave wonderful dinner and cocktail parties. To this day I can give a party at a moment’s notice with what I learned from her. Rosemary has been ill for the past few years and I miss our constant decorating chats very much. There is no one who has ever filled those shoes no one ever could……….