Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
MARTY CLEARArthur O. Yambor: 1948-2004. Family, friends and colleagues are stunned by nurseryman's abrupt diagnosis and death at 55.
After wrapping up a long work week at his nursery, Arthur Yambor decided to go to a walk-in clinic. He felt fine, but had some sores in his mouth that weren't going away. His wife told him to go get some antibiotics. It was Valentine's Day. They both figured he'd be home in an hour or so.
He never came home at all. Clinic doctors discovered his platelet count was low and told him to go straight to the hospital. Within six days, Mr. Yambor died of leukemia. He was 55.
"He was very much full of life, and he had a lot of life to give," said his wife, Paula Yambor. "It was just cut short. Even his doctors, they were flabbergasted that he went so quickly."
To his wife, Mr. Yambor was the puckish man, doting father and devoted husband with whom she had spent her entire adult life.
But to most people in Brandon, he was the friendly and gregarious man who managed and owned Shelton's Nursery, Spas and Gazebos on Brandon Boulevard for the past 32 years.
Mr. Yambor met his wife at Fairmont State College in West Virginia. She was a 21-year-old English teacher; he was 19-year-old student in her class. They started dating the next semester, when he was no longer her student.
"He was a big tease, he was a jokester," she said.
They married and moved to Brandon. Mr. Yambor taught English at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School in Tampa, and managed an apartment complex for extra money.
"He worked two jobs, even when he was teaching, so I wouldn't have to work and I could take care of our kids," Mrs. Yambor said. "That's the kind of husband and father he was."
One of the residents of the complex was Andrew Shelton, the owner of a chain of nurseries. He was looking for someone to manage his Brandon nursery. He liked the way Mr. Yambor ran the apartments, so he persuaded him to quit teaching and run the nursery.
"My husband was always ready to take on a challenge, always willing to try something new," Mrs. Yambor said.
Although he had never worked in the nursery business, Mr. Yambor soon found the work suited him, and that he had a genuine talent for it. He bought the nursery after Shelton's death, and Mr. Yambor's nursery - known for the pink elephant out front - is the only one of the Shelton's chain that is still in business.
"He just loved to be around people," his wife said. "I think that's why he thrived so well at the nursery."
Nursery employees were stunned by Mr. Yambor's passing, she said. But since his death they've been more than willing to take on extra responsibilities to help the Yambor family make sure the business keeps running smoothly.
"It's business as usual," Mrs. Yambor said. "His workers are in shock, and so are his friends and family. So we're all just pulling together, because that's what Arthur would have wanted us to do."
Mr. Yambor is survived by his wife and their two children, Arthur A. Yambor and Marjorie Yambor.