They Know Us Better Than We Know Ourselves by Bridget Brown

'It's preposterous,' Cole said of the city's rationale. Outraged community members, Cole included, packed City Council meetings to support Brown, and eventually former Mayor Daniel Bianchi brokered an extension that would give Brown until 2022. The building she leased was part of a larger property purchased by the nearby hotel, and in an agreement between it and Pittsfield, the shop was to be razed by 2012 to leave the area green and open to enhance the city's southern gateway. And Brown held her ground - literally - when the city of Pittsfield tried to oust her from her spot just south of town, the original location of Guido's Fresh Marketplace and, from the 1940s to 1960s, the Quarry Snack Bar.

If she has a problem, she's going to tell you.'

'She would definitely tell me how it is, and tell me to be strong and to stand up for myself. 'She was very real with me,' said Brown, a sophomore at Lesley University in Boston. Tova Brown said her mother had 'great mom technique' that combined the 'warm and fuzzy' with the straightforward and with no-nonsense advice. 'With flowers, I always left it up to her.' 'She's going to be very, very missed,' he said.

Mazzeo's owner Tony Mazzeo said he relied on Brown's talent for nearly 10 years, and always recommended her for weddings and catering. Her way with the flowers she either grew or bought at flower markets in New York City or Boston made her a local icon of Berkshires creativity and a go-to florist for area restaurants, weddings and other catered events.īrown's daughter, Tova Brown, 19, said her mother made arrangements for a wide spectrum - from Mazzeo's Ristorante across the street to celebrities like James Taylor and John Legend, a private party for the singer's engagement. 'She was incredibly warm, hilarious, a little bit cantankerous and a little bit scrappy,' he added. 'She was representative of another generation in the Berkshires - a little bit hippy, a little bohemian, and really tied into so many different worlds here,' he said, adding that Brown 'forged her own destiny' by making the life she wanted 'on her own terms.' Brown, who grew up in Dalton, opened the shop in 1987, selling flower bunches, arrangements, plants, and Christmas greens and trees in what Cole describes as a 'festive' shop where there was always a mix of interesting people hanging around.

They Know Us Better Than We Know Ourselves by Bridget Brown