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ABERDEEN, Wash. - Brad and Nancy Barnes have been in business together for 50 years now and married even longer than that.

What's the secret to their enduring partnership?

Well, just spend a few minutes with the longtime Aberdeen florists, and it's apparent that a key ingredient is a sense of humor.

When asked her favorite flower, for example Nancy quickly quipped, "The one that's going out the door."

And a lot have gone out the door, as Brad and Nancy and the rest of the Barnes Florists crew celebrate 50 years doing business in Aberdeen this month.

Brad Barnes, 79, actually got started in an aunt's florist business in Olympia in the mid-1940s, and was serious enough about it to study the trade at a college two states away.

"I studied floriculture at City College of San Francisco out on Ocean Avenue," he said. "When I went there it was in 1948. Well, I guess I went there in the fall of '47 - that's when I got out of high school - and I roomed in a basement apartment of an old widow's home near 19th Avenue ... and streetcar tokens were three for a quarter."

Other than that stint in San Francisco's Sunset District, Brad's lived his whole life in Washington, having been born in Bellingham in 1929.

Why City College of San Francisco then?

"They offered the courses I wanted," he said. "So my folks took their vacation in July and we drove down there and visited the campus, and decided it was a good deal. In those days, if you had good grades, there was no tuition, and there was no tuition at all for California residents. I didn't graduate, but I had a job waiting for me (in Aberdeen) when I came back. I probably lacked maybe just a quarter (worth of credits). I've been doing it ever since."

Well, with one short, important detour.

"I did take a break," said Brad. "In fact, that's how I met Nancy. I worked at Goldberg Furniture in Olympia, where she was a bookkeeper."

They were married in 1952 and soon after, Brad got a hankering to go back into floristry.

"It was about five years after we married when he told me this was going to be fun, and I'm still waiting for the fun," Nancy, 76, said with a wry smile.

They moved to Aberdeen, where they launched their business in the former Scott's Market downtown in 1959. They moved to their current Park Street location in 1970.

On March 22, they will celebrate 50 years in the business with an open house.

Among their longtime employees are Bing Sturgill, who's worked on and off for the store for 20 years since he was 16 years old.

"He's our right-hand man," said Brad. "We just couldn't manage without him."

Then there's delivery driver Karen Lamb, who Brad calls "our personal Mapquest when it comes to finding where things are and how to get things delivered."

They have also created a large workforce.

There have been five daughters, 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren in a close-knit family and family business that has seen all four generations working behind its counter.

One of those is granddaughter Blythe Sorter, 22, who currently works in the store and would like to remain in the florist business. She says her grandparents are "awesome" bosses and more.

"We have fun. ... They mean everything (to the family). We all love them very much."

In their spare time, if you'll pardon the pun, Brad and Nancy are longtime league bowlers at Rainier Lanes in Aberdeen. Brad plays in the Industrial League, while Nancy is now in the Evergreen League after some 40 years in the Starlight League.

"I started bowling to get away from the kids," Nancy said. "I bowled at 9 o'clock at night. It was great. Well, now, I have two daughters and a granddaughter bowling with me on a team. I had to raise my own bowlers," she quipped. "I go out and throw the ball 60 times a night now. It's not called bowling. It's 'exercise' now."

Back at work, Brad and Nancy are regrouping after the hectic Valentine's rush.

"Valentine's is the biggest day, Mother's Day is the biggest week, and Christmas is the biggest month," Nancy said of the seasonal rushes.

The Christmas season also brings another challenge as Brad developed an allergy to fresh evergreens in latter years.

"I developed an allergy seven or eight years ago ... I break out and I itch, and it affects my breathing," he said.

Any issues for Nancy?

"She's probably allergic to me," Brad joked.

Nancy nodded her approval.

In July, there's an annual lull and the Barneses use that for down time, spending most of their vacation time at their family cabin on Lake Nahwatzel.

They built the cabin from the ground up over the past 43 years.

They enjoy the proximity of the family gathering place near Matlock.

"You're not worn out when you get there, and you're not worn out when you get home," Brad said.

"We're leaving an unfinished cabin to our children," Nancy quipped. "But if we ever got rid of the place, they'd probably finish us off."

When they return in August and September, it's wedding season on the Harbor.

And like many things in their industry, tastes have changed over a half century.

"The business has changed drastically since we started," Nancy said. "It was pretty much daisies, carnations, roses and gladiolus back then. Today, we're into everything. You can buy nearly anything that's grown.

"We get deliveries four days a week, so we have a fresh supply all the time," Brad said, adding that customers can expect those fresh flowers to last one to three weeks depending on conditions.

"We put everything in a flower-food solution," Brad says of the formula that extends an arrangement's longevity. "And when we first get them in, they're conditioned in a separate solution. So that ... helps extend the life, too."

So a lot of those flowers can now come in from places such as South America thanks to additional advances in transportation and new trade laws. That's brought more variety and some lower wholesale prices for retailers.

While that's a competitive issue for domestic growers, retailers like Barnes Florist have faced their own challenges, such as competition from Internet florists.

"It's a two-way street," Brad said of the Internet. "Sometimes it's helpful to us and other times it's a pain."

"We're really not technologically literate," Nancy added. "We even have great-grandkids who show us how to do things on the computer."

That's one advantage of having a close-knit family.

"All our girls live here," Nancy said of her daughters. "Molly is the only one who got out of town, and she lives in Brady ... but she works in town."

And that's a formula that's helped sustain Brad and Nancy Barnes and their offspring for a half-century and beyond: Keep your family and sense of humor close at hand

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