Ed & Vivian Johnson

Ed was born and raised in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. After High School he worked in construction in the cold and rain that Washington is famous for. He used to joke that you would grow webbed feet if you stayed there. He joined the US Navy after the Korean Conflict started. His duty was very hard, stationed at Barber's Point NAS in Hawaii for 2 years followed by 2 years at the NAS in Alameda, Ca. This is when he decided he would go to college and work with his brain instead of his back. Vivian was born in San Diego, CA and lived on Ford Island, Territory of Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was bombed. She eventually moved to Oakland, CA.
While stationed in Alameda, Ed's friends talked him into going to a New Year's Eve Dance at the U.S.O. in Oakland, CA. He met Vivian that night and from then on they were almost inseparable. She was still a kid and thought he was so handsome, debonair and worldly. It helped that he had a cute little black convertible! He proposed the following Valentine's Day and they were married in June 1954. They moved to So California where Ed attended Northrop Aeronautical Institute, later Northrop University, and received his BS in Aeronautical Engineering. After graduation his first job was test firing liquid rocket engines for the Titan ICBM Program at Aerojet in Sacramento. That was really exciting for a young guy fresh out of school! Ed took a break from engineering to help with the family owned Construction Business in Orange County where he built many apartments and small office buildings in Anaheim and Santa Ana. Going back to engineering for Aerojet again, Ed and Vivian moved with their three children, 2 boys and 1 girl, to Yuma, Arizona. This time he was testing drones over the desert at the Army Proving Grounds. (With Vivian's love of flowers and gardening this was not a good place to live.) So, moving back to California Ed went to work for North American Rockwell in Cryogenic engineering on the Saturn S-II as well as other components of the Space Program. By now another little girl and boy were added to the family. Vivian remembers shopping one day with their little brood in tow and a little old lady asked, "Are you good Catholics?" Without batting an eye Ed answered "No we're just Passionate Protestants." She laughs now, but at the time he was in the doghouse! Ed returned to Aerojet in 1970 and worked in design engineering on Nuclear Reactor Components for the Trident Submarine. When the children grew up and were in school, Vivian found she had lots of free time on her hands, so she decided to open a flower shop. Starting from scratch they built it into a shop that specialized in weddings, occasionally, 5 per week. The shop also carried a full line of decorator and gift items. After 8 years as a florist, they decided to do away with that backbreaking part of the business. This necessitated a name change for the store. Since many people would walk in telling their friend, "This is the Cutest Little Store", that was the obvious choice.