A New Jersey florist is all set to do double duty, quite literally, as he prepares to temporarily hand the reins of his shop to his staff before leaving to serve the country in Iraq this summer.

Growing up in Haddonfield, N.J., D.W. Janszky, owner of Haddonfield Floral Co. had long thought about joining the service.

"My father was in the Marine Corps, his father was in the Army Air Corps," Janszky explains.  "I wasn't really raised to go into the military, it was just something I always considered. After college, it never really left my mind. So I got to a day, where I literally said 'I can't do this anymore.'"

So Janszky joined the National Guard in August 2005 and, about two years later, found out he will ship out to Iraq with the Army National Guard's 42d Infantry Division.

Until it's time to leave, Janszky says he'll be busy preparing his staff to run the store without him for the next year.

"It's really administrative, I'm not a designer," Janszky says.  "I just need to make sure that in all of the books, all the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted," so his staff has easy access to the information they'll need.

Both of his designers have a notebook detailing their area of responsibility during his absence. With access to e-mail, text messaging and the occasional phone call, Janszky is confident his designer, Kathy Dallman, who has run the store during other bouts of leave, can handle the job. 

"We've done this before, not for a year's worth of time, but we've done this before," Janszky says.  "(Kathy's) quite adept and experienced at managing the affairs of the business while I'm gone."

--Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org

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