Weddings, funerals, birthdays and Valentines, for over four decades florist Mark Killoran has been involved in the most important milestones in the lives of thousands of Galwegians.

But this Christmas Eve, the 84-year-old will close the door on College Road Florist opposite The Sportsground for the final time – retiring, after almost 43 years in business.

“It wasn’t really work, because I enjoyed doing it,” the Ballinderreen native told Galway City Tribune as he reflected on his career and why he kept going long after retirement age.

When Pope John Paul II came to Galway in 1979, it was Mark who made flowers for the altar at Ballybrit Racecourse.

“Simon J Kelly was the architect, and he asked me to do the flowers,” he recalled.

Then in 1984, when US President Ronald Reagan visited Galway, his Secret Service got ready in his shop.

“They togged out here – that’s true,” said Mark.

Mark developed his mother’s love of flowers as a young boy growing up in the 1950s.

“The colours of blues and yellows – not so much reds – they did something in my head, and I thought they were unreal,” he said.

Mark trained in Scotland. He served four years as an apprentice in a walled garden in Edinburgh, where he got day-release each week to the local horticultural college.

When he returned to Galway, Mark taught horticulture classes before spotting an opportunity to open his own florist shop.

The property on College Road was one-storey, with no insulation or heating, and in need of repair.

He couldn’t get a mortgage but between bank loans and borrowings from friends and family, Mark renovated the premises and opened in January 1982.

Mark and his wife, Marion raised a family of three boys, who they put through college – Paul, the eldest, is in Galway; Richard is in London; and Stephen in Melbourne.

Pictured: Final days: Florist Mark Killoran at his College Road premises. Photos: Joe O’Shaughnessy.