Williamsburg Flower Shop owner Greg Prewitt delivers flowers to the living and the dead.

Greg and his wife, Terri Prewitt, make floral arrangements for many occasions, including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, birthdays and Christmas, but 65 percent of the Prewitts’ business comes from providing arrangements for funerals, memorials and cemetery decorations. Life and death are both regularly on Greg’s mind.

The Prewitts’ dedication and compassion for the community is what cements Williamsburg Flower Shop as one of the most important businesses in town.

The shop, first opened in 1974, is one of the oldest businesses in Williamsburg. Greg bought the shop in 2002 and co-owns it with his wife. Known for their personalized service, the Prewitts create all of their floral arrangements and deliver them to clients themselves.

The Prewitts have had to come to terms with their own losses as well. Among the places Greg delivers flowers is Young Cemetery where several generations of the Rose and Ridner families are buried. Greg's mother, Pauline Prewitt, whose maiden name is Rose, is related to both families. Greg has made floral decorations for many of his family members' graves at the cemetery.

Greg navigates the concepts of death and grief on a daily basis through his work.
"I don't think you really know the deep grief and hurt until you've experienced it yourself," Greg says. "When other people have losses, I try to be more purposeful in how I support them."
In 2014, Greg and Terri faced a new form of grief when Williamsburg Flower Shop was destroyed in a fire caused by an exploding heater. "It felt like a death," he says.

The fire had a detrimental effect not only on the Prewitts, but also on the community. During reconstruction of the shop, customers who lost loved ones would come in through the back door of the closed shop and beg for any flowers the Prewitts had in order to remember the deceased, Greg says.

Recalling the fire, Greg says, "I guess I have more of a heart now when I hear that someone loses their home in a fire."

While rebuilding the shop, Greg says they received a lot of support from the funeral homes in the area as well as the community as a whole.

"Everyone tried to support him in any way they could," says Crayton Ellison, owner of Ellison Funeral Home.

Through all of the loss the Prewitts experienced, they also experienced the miracle of birth and life when their son, Devin, was born Jan. 9, 2013. The Prewitts were unsure if they would ever have a child.

"When I finally did get pregnant, to me it was a miracle . . . the week I found out was the week of Mother's Day," Terri says.

Williamsburg Flower Shop is a safe space to support and care for those who are grieving, while also helping people celebrate the beauty of life.

“Sometimes it feels that your world is torn apart, but you have to realize that everybody’s been there or will be there, so you’re not alone,” Greg says.