For many, many years, some of our best customers have been Larry and Bridget Drummer, who live by Maple Lake near Mentor, Minn.

Always quiet, kind and cheerful, Larry clearly loved plants and gardening and his wife Bridget. I finally put together that he owned the big diesel repair shop on the East Side. We never had a conversation, but you didn’t need to. It was just fun to watch them in their own world picking out plants.

The last time I saw them, they had picked out a big ornamental drum from the gift shop. I teased him that Drummer was buying a drum, and they walked up the driveway with him carrying the drum on his shoulder.

Larry passed away at age 63 last week. His obituary tells his story.