(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues) >>Welcome to "The Legacy Series: Living a Legacy."

I'm your host, Bremante Bryant.

In this episode, a dream inherited, and a two-decade long promise fulfilled.

We bring to you the story of a father and daughter who share a very special bond.

In part, it was about their blossoming talent.

But it was also about a dad dedicated to protecting and teaching his baby girl.

Their story begins four decades ago, back when neighbors leaned on each other for something as simple as a cups of sugar.

A few dollars.

Even just some great conversation.

This is the story of Bernard and Alexes Haggins.

(bright music) Tell us your memories of Mr. Bernard.

>>Memories of Bernard.

My memories of Bernard was the first time I met him.

I had a very good friend who had passed away by the name of Happy Miles.

He introduced me to Bernard, so it became just a regular thing to come to the flower shop.

And he always had interesting conversations and we could just kick it as men.

He'd give you words of wisdom while he's working on his trade.

Those things I remember.

And he always had something on the hot plate.

It was always a meal there for you.

>>Tell me a little bit about your dad.

>>My father was a very prominent person in DC.

He owned several florist businesses on Georgia Avenue up the street.

He had a lot of talent.

He was very sharp in the flower business.

He know the ins and out of wholesaler, flower deliveries, everything.

He knew like his back of his hand.

>>Alexes, tell us about your father, Bernard Haggins.

>>And he was just such a social person.

People loved him.

They would come in just to talk.

He loved to entertain and I always remember, he just always helped people, right?

So if someone wanted to open a business or was looking for a job, he always knew people or resources and he was always able to make that connection.

And so I just remember him being a loved, likable person and he loved people.

>>How did he and your mother meet?

>>So my mom actually worked at Industrial Bank of Washington which was across the street from the flower shop, and he would see her go in and out.

And so he actually had my older sister, she's passed away since, but he had her to go in an open up an account so he'll have a reason to go in there.

>>Smart man.

And why did he decide to open up a flower shop?

>>So my father worked for a family, Colleen Flores on Georgia Avenue.

To my knowledge, he started off as a delivery driver and then he started working with the flowers and was really good at what he did.

And the owner was ready to retire or sell the business.

And his siblings or his family members were very prominent, still is very prominent in the real estate industry in DC so basically they couldn't take over the floors and so they chose to sell it.

Didn't get anyone to sell it to, offered to sell it to my dad.

My dad was like "I can't afford it".

So they gave it to my, my father actually inherited that florist from that family and he kept it for many, many years after that.

>>What was it like during his time when he was running the shop?

>>Bernard's shop was a gathering place.

He always had a taste of something that you can get some memory or some knowledge from.

>>What was that like when you came into that shop?

>>It was very refreshing because he just ran a good establishment.

Everybody knew him.

He knew everybody.

If you met Bernard once, you never forgot him.

He was good to everybody.

It was just almost like home, except we should have been at work or whatever.

>>So you should have been at work, but I'm sure he was happy to see you there.

>>And when the people got off on work, you went to Bernard's just to be sure that everything was running right and be sure he was safe and sound.

We took good care of Bernard because he took good care of us.

>>Now it's interesting you say that, that you would go to check on him.

So it was also one of those things where it was a sense of where that shot was also yours to protect it, the community.

>>Correct.

And it was a neighborhood, it was just ours, you know what I mean?

Everybody wanted to talk to Bernard, Bernard wanted to talk to everybody and we just stuck.

>>How convenient was it to have your daughter being the one working in the shop, even when she was young?

>>It was very convenient.

Her father kept an eye on her, especially when she got out of school.

She had somewhere to go because I didn't always work in DC, I worked in the outskirts, the suburbs, Rockville Gates, or way downtown,.

So she got a place to go to after school.

>>I remember when Alexes was a younger girl and she was in the flower shop.

Alexes couldn't really go outside and play.

My dad used to have her right there, and if she did go out, he would always call her back in.

>>What are your memories as a little girl, as a young girl being in the shop?

>>Wow, my memories in the shop was being loved by everyone who came in there.

I just felt like everyone who came in there came knowing that they were going to just have a really good time, good conversation.

I always remember flowers going out with my dad making flowers, but people coming in.

It just was always never a dull moment there.

I remember never wanting to leave.

I always would cry when it's time to go home.

Always wanted to stay.

But I just remember the environment and the energy was always just so good.

When people walked through that door, they always loved Bernard, and they made it known.

I can't tell you how many sisters and brothers that's coming in, that's my father too, you know.

He was just loved.

And so that's my goal is to just continue to love on people, continue to help people and make this florist a place where people not only can come and get flowers, but just to feel good.

Sort of like when you go to the barbershop, right?

>>I was gonna ask you, you know, when we hear stories about so far, the shop, my first thought of is like a barber shop.

A place where people come and commune.

>>Yes, and that's the goal that I want.

It's an experience when you leave out that door, you always will remember this florist.

>>What was your relationship like with your dad?

>>It was a really good relationship.

I always remember him as being my protector.

I remember one time as a little girl, someone mentioned to him like "you have her here all the time" or something like that.

And he actually put that person out, like "that's my daughter.

Don't question me as to why my daughter is here".

But he was my protector no matter what it was or how old I was, he protected me.

He loved very hard, the same love that he gave me and my siblings is the same love that I saw him give people, people he really didn't even know that came through the door, he just loved hard and he always said "I love people and I don't understand how people can be alone".

He always used to say that, "I always wanna have people around me and love on people".

And he was a provider.

He made sure that me and my siblings had what we needed.

We lived a really good life.

My mom, he took a really good care of my mother.

>>Became a mom at a young age, as a teenager.

What was that experience like?

How did it influence, define you, if that's the right word?

>>When I had my son, I was 17, and I will say that it made me the woman that I am now.

It matured me in a fast way.

My father always taught me to be independent.

He used to have his favorite saying of "God bless the child to have his own and not to depend on anyone".

So I always had that pressure or influence from him to go out there and get work and get it and take care of yourself.

And I remember one time when I first found out I was pregnant and he was a little upset, not a little, a lot, he was upset.

And rightfully so, because I had a whole life ahead of me.

And so we had a conversation on the front of the porch and he told me, he said "you don't need a baby right now.

We gonna support you basically whatever you choose to do.

But if you have that child, you are going to take care of it".

And when he said that to me, it went through one end out the other.

Like, okay, I hear what you saying, right?

Well at my baby shower, my mother and father bought me glass bottles and cloth diapers, and in my head I'm like, "what is this for?

Nobody uses this anymore".

So I throw it in the black back of my closet.

One day I didn't have any money, my son needed Pampers, and went back to my dad and I asked him for some money for the Pampers.

And he looked at me and he said "you remember that day when I told you that you gonna take care of that child?

No, I'm not giving you any money.

So I suggest you go upstairs and go get those cloth Pampers until you figure it out".

And when he said that to me, it was just like a moment of wow, this is the point where you really gotta go out here and take care of yourself and get a job and not depend on anyone for anything.

So it could have went a whole nother way had we not had that conversation.

>>So Brandon, tell me what it was like growing up the son of Alexes.

What was it like growing up with your mother?

>>Well I watched the struggles and I watched the successes.

Like literally like that's like my best friend.

So I've seen her come from nothing from when my dad died to where she is now.

It was hard.

We had a lot of ups and downs, but it's paying off in the long run.

So I'm proud of her.

>>When your dad became ill, were you concerned about who would take care of him?

How would we take care of him?

Finances, would that be an issue?

Tell us what that was like knowing how close you all were at going through that experience with him.

>>It was devastating because he got sick out of nowhere and he actually lived longer than what the doctors said that he would.

That's why I said he's such a fighter, he fought so hard.

And so it was really a hard thing for me.

I think moreso I just thought about how am I going to go through life without him because he was so much there for me and such a supporter.

And I don't think people ever really prepare theirself to lose a parent, no matter how old you are.

And so I just wasn't prepared for that.

>>Was there ever any talk about you taking over the shop?

>>So like I said, I always said it, right?

And so when he was on his like, I don't wanna say death bed, but when he was near to the end and we were talking and I told him like "I'm gonna make you proud and at some point I am going to reopen the florist".

I don't know when or where, but I'm going to open it.

And it made him very happy, he smiled.

>>Once your husband became ill to step in and take over, was it just a natural progression?

>>It was more like a pressure type thing.

It was more pressure.

>>What kind of effect do you think that had on her with that pressure being there?

>>She didn't have all four children at that particular time.

But I mean she, like I said, she was a struggling mother.

She's trying to work and take care of her children.

>>He was a fighter.

He fought to the very end, even when he was ill, and he supported me even all the way until we had to close the shop.

There were times where he would actually make the arrangements for me at home while he was sick and I would bring the arrangements to the floor and sell them.

The last Valentine's Day, that's what happened.

I brought all the arrangements from home to the florist and I worked it by myself there.

So he was just always there.

And I think the most part for me that's hard now is when I come against challenges in my life, he's not physically here to go to like I used to always have him.

I know he's here in spirit, but that's the only thing.

But he was an awesome man.

>>You're a mother of four pretty young children, so you've gotta pay the bills.

As you said, your dad says you're gonna have to go to work, and I'm assuming you couldn't just rely on the flower shop.

So you've done a few jobs, right?

So you had to go to work.

Talk a little bit about what you've had to do financially to make sure you take care of your family.

>>So yeah, I mean I've had a lot of jobs, right?

I think the three that really has helped me to get to the place that I am now.

I did a lot of community work, right?

So I helped a lot of DC residents that had mental health issues to just kind of have a quality of life or find employment, find housing.

I've been to the shelters.

I've done a lot within the community and that has also helped me to one, be humble and stay humble, but to just continue and pick up where my father left off in the community, right?

So after that, I did real estate and I am still a realtor, and so building generational wealth, teaching people how to build generational wealth, and it also helped finance this business.

So I haven't taken out any loans, anything.

The real estate is what helped me to be able to open up this business.

>>But you were at another place, you were working, and you had to put some flowers together, right?

And then you realize "hey wait a minute, people think I know what I'm doing, maybe I do", tell that story a little bit.

>>So I was working in a real estate office and we were decorating the office and so my mentor at the time had brought all these artificial flowers in and she was like, "we just gonna figure it out.

What can we use this with?"

And so one day I was there by myself and I just put these beautiful pieces together.

And so everyone who walked through the door who saw those pieces was just like, oh my goodness, this is beautiful.

And I made a centerpiece and I got the same reactions from everyone.

And so my mentor at the time said "I think you have something here".

And as I continue to practice with the flowers, I was actually surprising myself, like wow, I really do have something here.

>>Talk to us about how you made the journey back to the same neighborhood.

It was the same neighborhood once where your dad had found success, and what was the reception coming back into the neighborhood?

>>So when I turned nine, my dad moved from Georgia Avenue to Upton Street and that's when he changed the name to Flowers by Alexes.

And of course, again, I went to school in the neighborhood.

I met all my childhood friends in this neighborhood.

I worked at the recreation center, I worked at the Pizza Hut.

So I feel like I'm well grounded and we stayed here until I turned 21, and that was 18 years ago, going on 19 years ago.

The opportunity came for me to get this location and that's when I knew it was divine because I'm like what is the odds out of all the places that I could have gone, I ended up on the same exact block as my father's shop, right?

I've seen the changes come through of the neighborhood for the years.

And this neighborhood has been so welcoming to me.

So supportive, people who have known me, and people who haven't known me.

I just couldn't be in a better location.

I'm so grateful for the businesses, they were open, very welcoming to me, and I just want to help this block and this neighborhood or whatever I can do to just make it better.

The city's all over, right?

I wanna continue in a community and help people like my dad did.

But this is special to me, this block.

>>What do you see in Alexes in terms of the traits, the type of person she is, the type of business woman she is, that you would see in your dad?

>>Well with Alexes, I see 10 toes down running, and I've seen that in my dad as well.

Also, I see a mother that wants better for her children by being is single parent.

And it's amazing in trying to open up a business, not trying, it's open, a business and treating people well.

A people's person, love people.

She knew the trade at a early age, and didn't even know that she had it in her.

>>When you are in this shop, and sometimes you may be by yourself, right, and the music's playing, you got flowers all around, and you have a chance to maybe even sort of contemplate for a minute, what goes through your mind?

Do you ever sort of kind of think about your surroundings and what's happening now in your life with this shop?

>>All the time.

All the time.

If I haven't done it before, I think a lot about it my childhood and just, I'm in awe of how it just came back full circle of me being this little girl, running around the florist, being with my dad, going to the wholesale, going to the funeral homes, like everywhere that he went, I was there.

And I always think like, did my father know what he was installing?

His purpose of having me with him with at all these places, did he know that this is what he wanted for me, or it is just he didn't have anywhere for me to go?

But either way the seed was planted during those times, and I just sit in awe like, wow, I'm here, I've done it, it's beautiful and everything that I've seen and learned from my father, I'm doing it now and I'm doing it well, and I just see a really successful business.

I really do.

>>If your dad was here and was able to talk to you and see all that you were doing, do you think his thoughts would be a sort of a summation of yours in terms of what you have accomplished?

What do you think he would say to you knowing your father and the way he would communicate and things you would say?

>>Absolutely, yes.

So I feel my dad with me all the time, especially when I come in here.

When I'm working on arrangements because we have to remember my dad actually never sat me down and said "this is how you make an arrangement, this is where you put a flower".

I mainly just cleaned the flowers and help the customers that came in, right?

I feel him with me when it's things that I question, I can just kind of think back of what would he do?

That kind of answers that question.

If my father was here today, I see him sitting on the front like he did at the other shop.

He sat out front and waved at every car that went past, whether he knew anybody or not.

I see him doing that here.

When I prepare for big events or something big is happening here, I can just see him so happy for me and "you're doing the same thing that I used to do".

So I know that my father is pleased with me.

I'm at peace knowing that because of all the struggles that I have gone through, and I'm just here and I'm looking forward to picking up where he left off, but taking it to another level.

>>Your daughter is going to be an author or a co-author?

Tell us a little bit about that experience, what that's about, what it's been like working with your little fourth grader.

>>I want to continue to do what my father did with me, which is allow my children to spend time in the florist, right?

Or the ones that want to, and so Willo has shown herself to wanna be here all the time, wanna help with the flowers, very creative.

And so we decided that we're gonna write a children's book, and the book will be about growing up in the florist.

So me growing up with my father and then she's growing up under me and just following in my footstep, and hopefully one day Willo will want to be the heir and take over the business.

That would just be really awesome.

>>And tell me, do you stay in the shop here with your mother sometimes?

>>All the time.

>>All the time.

And tell me what it's like being in the shop here.

Like it, is it fun?

What do you do?

>>It's fun helping the customers and putting the flowers together.

>>Now I know know you're only in the fourth grade.

How old are you, Willo?

>>Nine.

>>Nine.

You're not even double digits yet?

>>No.

>>And you know what?

Your mother already says that you are probably gonna take over the shop when she doesn't wanna do it anymore.

What do you think about that?

Do you wanna run the shop?

>>Yes.

>>Do you love flowers?

>>I like the way when they're just in the living room or anywhere.

>>So when people see you in the shop, Willo, what do they say?

Do they ever say anything to you?

Do they say, "oh, you look just like your mother" or "you're gonna be like your mother and running the shop"?

What do they say to you?

>>They say that I'm the next Flowers by Alexes.

>>What do you think about that when they say that?

>>I like when they say that.

>>With you, what, Alexes, do you want your legacy to be?

>>My legacy, I want to be able to have a footprint in this community in this city where my children and my children's children will remember me as, and want to continue that on.

I want to be able to build generational wealth for my children and their children, but also teach the community everything that I've learned in my life to be able to pass it on and teach it to the next person and just be remembered as the good heart that I hav,e as the people person that I am, the same as my father, resourceful person.

Just all good things that help the next person then get to the next level.

>>This concludes our look at the lives of Bernard and Alexes Haggins.

We thank the Haggins family for allowing us to bring their story to life.

Theirs is one of family dedication, life lessons, and resilience.

On behalf of the many recipients of their beautiful bouquets, the conversations at the flower shop, and the countless lives touched in the community along the way, we salute them.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) >>This program was produced by WHUT and made possible by contributions from viewers like you.

For more information on this program or any other program, please visit our website at whut.org.

Thank you.