Posted on: Wednesday, June 19, 2002

Ailene Townsend, flower shop owner, dead at 86

By Shayna Coleon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ailene Townsend, an O'ahu flower shop owner and lei maker for more than 50 years, died Friday. She was 86.

Townsend was born in Honolulu in 1915 and opened her first shop, Flowers From Ailene's, on South Street in 1951, her daughter Charlotte said.

"Mom received an orchid plant as a gift back in '51, so she started to raise orchids at home," Charlotte Townsend said. "She started to make corsages and leis out of the orchids at home, and that progressed into something bigger."

In the early '70s, Townsend opened a second shop on Maunakea Street in Chinatown.

"Flowers gave her the ability to express herself and her creativity," Charlotte Townsend said. "It was about being Hawaiian, and it was a part of the local culture."

Charlotte Townsend said her mother considered lei-making a family event.

"When I was a kid, I saw lei-making as labor," Charlotte Townsend said. "We kids delivered the flowers, cleaned and decorated. It was definitely a family business. As I grew much older, I learned to appreciate all those times."

Out of all the lei she could make, Townsend once said the haku lei was her favorite.

"Weaving haku is a labor of love, and it lasts forever," Charlotte Townsend said. "And that's how mom was because she was always expressing aloha in the truest sense. Everything she made represented a bit of herself."

Visitation will be 2 p.m. July 7 at Kamehameha Schools Chapel, followed by a memorial service at 3:30. Burial will be 10 a.m. July 8 at O'ahu Cemetery.

In addition to her daughter Charlotte, Townsend is survived by her son, Bill of Hilo; daughters, Ululani Young, Dorie Ellis, Marion Makaimoku of Hilo, Bobby Uyehara and March Marchan of Honolulu; sister, Lovey Douglas; and brother, Billy Boy.