By Jimmie Covington
Memphis Commercial-Appeal
April 16, 2007
Angie Howarth says her mother tells stories about Angie making change from the cash register of the family's flower shop when she was 5 years old or so.
Howarth, 38, is still involved in the family business, now Hernando Flowers at the west end of Magnolia Square strip shopping center at 141 W. Commerce.
Howarth and her husband, Drue Howarth, rent the flower shop space from her mother and, in addition, space at the east end of the center for another business they own, Premier Video and Frame Shop.
Given the involvement with two businesses, not to mention raising a family, Howarth faced a dilemma when she decided to return to school to pursue a bachelor's degree in accounting. She didn't know how she could fit in going to the Ole Miss main campus in Oxford and taking a heavy load of courses.
That's where DeSoto Center's Ole Miss campus entered the picture.
"I thoroughly enjoy going to DeSoto Center," she said. "The instructors there are really good to work with. ... They are always helpful if you need extra help or don't understand something."
Dr. Bonnie Buntin, Ole Miss dean at the center, said Howarth is an example of what the center provides for people in the community, allowing them to obtain an additional degree or courses in addition to those related to a first degree.
"There are lots of opportunities," Buntin said. "What we offer is a match for many potential students who can complete a degree or cross-train or get an advanced degree locally."
In Howarth's case, she already has a bachelor's degree in business management and an MBA (master of business administration) in general business from Delta State University.
She will receive her bachelor's in accountancy next month.
Her flower shop career began after she finished college the first time.
"When I got out of college (in 1992), I came back to work here," Howarth said. "My mom made me a partner. Then after several years, I wished I had gotten an accounting degree the first time around."
Howarth has lived in Hernando since her mother moved from Memphis when Angie was about 3 years old. She graduated from the old Memphis Preparatory School in the Whitehaven area in 1986. After receiving her bachelor's degree from Delta State in 1990, she took a year off and worked as a traveling consultant for her sorority.
Her mother, Tacker, was a school teacher when she began helping a woman who had a flower shop at the old curb market at Poplar and Cleveland in Memphis. The woman retired and sold the shop to Tacker.
"That is how she got into the flower business and then we eventually moved down here," Howarth said.
Tacker opened a shop called The Daisy Basket on Center Street in Hernando in about 1976.
"She bought out Hernando Flower Shop and joined the two (Hernando shops) together," Howarth said. "We used to be on the square where Accents is now. Eventually, she bought an old restaurant that stood here and we moved the shop into that old house."
That building burned in 1988 as a result of a lightning strike. Howarth's mother then built the shopping center at the location.
The Howarths have two children -- daughter, Natalie, 9, a fourth-grader, and son, Alex, 6, a kindergartner.
he accounting degree may not be the end of Howarth's pursuit of education and certification in business.
With the accounting degree and the other college courses, she plans to sit for the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) examination.
Also, she said, "I would really love, I think, to teach at the college level, but I don't know how I can do that."