Farmers' market and its customers lose one of their own

When Mary Atkinson and son David opened their flower stand Sunday at the Haddon Heights Farmers Market, the late-season zinnias, dahlias, and sunflowers seemed as bright as the morning's light.

"My husband would have wanted us to finish [the season] strong," Mary said from behind the work table, a big plastic bucket of special, single-stem blooms at the ready.

A free flower for every kid was Lewis J. Atkinson's idea. A big, beaming bear of a guy, he was only 58 when he died, unexpectedly, Sept. 30.

He left behind Mary, their three grown children, and a host of customers and fellow vendors who had become friends.

"I knew we touched people," said Mary, noting that flowers - her family's 75-acre Van Dyk Bros. farm in Vineland, N.J., has grown them for six decades - tend to please givers and recipients alike.

But the farm began selling at the Heights and Westmont farmers' markets only this year, and "I didn't realize," said Mary, 57, "how deeply customers had connected with us."

On the Sunday after Lew died, Heights market manager Joe Gentile put buckets of assorted single-stem flowers - donated by the Muth Family Farm of Williamstown - on a table in the Atkinsons' usual spot. Kids got freebies as always, and dozens of adults signed a condolence book.

I was there and was startled to hear that Lew was gone. Just like that.

More than a few folks gathered near the stand, commiserating with other customers. Some cried.

"It takes you by surprise, how it affects you," Gentile said. "But we're all here together."

Word also spread fast on the market's Facebook page.

"I am still in utter shock, and my heart broke when I heard of his passing," posted Marie F. DiMarco, a dental technician who lives in Bellmawr and on Sundays operates Kemp's popcorn, next to the Atkinsons' stand. "You guys have become family to me."

Soap vendor Karen Bockius, whose stand is on the same East Atlantic Avenue row as the Atkinsons', said there was a camaraderie among the market's 25 vendors, and with their customers.

It's a connection absent from the mass-market shopping experience, whether at a mall or online, she said.

"We're more a part of each other's lives," Bockius said. "Lew exuded happiness. . . . [Selling] flowers was his pleasure and his joy."

Mary and Lew knew each other in elementary school in Millville. As teenagers, "we remet at church," she said. The couple had been active members of Connect Church in Cherry Hill.

Lew ran his own financial-consulting business for 24 years and "always maintained a positive attitude, even in the darkest days after his strokes three years ago," Mary said. "When people asked him how he was doing, he'd say, 'Exceptional, and getting better every minute.' "

At the stand Sunday, the celosia, ageratum, eucalyptus, and ornamental kale were going fast.

"It's been helpful to get back to work," Mary said. "My customers have been absolutely wonderful. They're like family, a second family."

At times, several people waited in line; most appeared to know what had happened to the jolly man behind the counter. Others were just finding out; there were lots of hugs.

"I'll be praying for him," one customer said.

"He was the nicest man," said another.

Regular customer Frank Kelly, 75, had come up from Deptford in search of white and green gladiolas.

Lew "was like the life of the party," he said. "He always had a joke."

He put his arm on Mary's shoulder and asked how much longer the market would be open this season.

"We'll be here for the next two Sundays," Mary said. "And, hopefully, back again next year."