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Meet the Nursery Pros!
Left to right: Dan Rasku, John Lebeaux, Reuben Lebeaux, Ben Lebeaux, Man Nguyen, Jay Lemont, Chris Burke, Andy Silverberg, Nhieu Van Pham, Joe Roccanti, Barbara Stafinski, Charlie Rasku, Robin Lebeaux, Horace Ames, John Magnant, Kym Giacoppe
picture taken at Man Nguyen's (Mr. Loi's) going away party, Fall 2007
Reuben Lebeaux (1924-2008)
It is with great sadness that we tell you that our company's founder and owner, Reuben Lebeaux, died February 20, 2008.
Reuben founded Shrewsbury Nurseries in 1947 after graduating from Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and remained active in the business through the time of his death. He started our tradition of humorous signs back in 1960. He served the nursery industry in various capacities including as President of both the Massachusetts Nursery & Landscape Association and the New England Nursery Association.
For the last few years Reuben liked to set himself in a comfortable chair under a lawn umbrella by the front door to the garden center with a sign next to him offering "Information". From that spot he could meet and greet new and old customers and keep an eye out over his business.
We miss him a lot.
In Memoriam of our dear friend and
fellow staff member
Kim Killoran
(1963-2007)
John Lebeaux
Reuben's son, John, has been the General Manager since 1983. He worked at the nursery through junior high, high school and college, and then worked for four years in the nursery business right in the heart of New York City, learning the ins and outs of urban gardening. He is a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist. He is a past President of the Massachusetts Nursery and Landscaping Association and currently serves on the Massachusets Board of Food and Agriculture and the Massachusetts Water Resources Commission.
Robin Lebeaux
Robin, Reuben's daughter, manages all the office duties, and has been part of the business for over twenty years. She also works in retail sales, and has a lot of knowledge and experience in flower gardening. Many of the beautiful planting displays you see at the nursery are Robin's handiwork.
Horace Ames
Landscape Designer Horace Ames joined us in 2000 after serving over thirty years as the Superintendent of Grounds for a leading local institution. We've known each other for many years as Horace was the nursery's customer in his previous position. We're very happy that Horace has brought his years of experience to our customers.
Chris Burke
One of our "Weekend Warriors", Chris stared working for us when he was in high school, and for over 20 years has continued to work part-time in retail sales on the weekends through the year and evenings during the spring.
Storm Carlson
Storm worked for us for several years in the early 1980's. He studied horticulture, worked in the industry in the Pacific Northwest, and then spent a long time living out of the country. He came back to work with us in 2008, and we're glad to have his wide knowledge and experience with plant material available to customers in the salesyard.
Casey
Our official greeter, Casey is part Lab, part Golden. She loves hanging around the front door and saying hello to new and old customers. Her gentle nature makes her a favorite of little kids. Always interested in a pat, a scratch behind the ears, or a belly rub, Casey is particularly fond of coffee breaks and lunchtime. As she's getting a little older, Casey is primarily working part-time, but she's ready to go whenever she's asked, "Do you want to go to the nursery?"
Julie Cormier
Julie first worked for another nursery in greenhouse operations and then for nine years with us. She re-joined us in 2006 as one of our Landscape Designers after a few years off. She is a Mass. Certified Horticulturist and is a graduate of the New England School of Floral Design.
Gigi Desautels
Gigi was our Principal Landscape Designer in the late 1980's and early 90's. She left us to go out on her own, operating her own successful landscaping business and a farmstand in Boylston. She returned in 2006 as a part-time "consultant", offering her very talented design services to as many customers as her schedule allows her to fit in with her other projects.
Erik Larson
Another "Weekend Warrior", Erik has worked at Shrewsbury Nurseries in a variety of capacities since he started with us in 1971. For several years he worked full-time, but now brings his experience to our customers on weekends and some evenings. He is a second generation employee; his father Carl also worked for us for many years. Erik is an avid collector of local memorabilia (particularly old postcards) and would love to talk with you about collecting!
Julie Lebeaux
Taking over the job formerly held by her sister Kate, Julie does our data entry, adding customer information to our database. A junior at Shrewsbury High, she does her work behind the scenes from home.
Jay Lemont
Jay is another of our very valuable part-time salespeople who work regularly on the weekends and some evenings. This is his third year at the nursery. A devoted sports fan, Jay regularly hops on and off the Red Sox bandwagon depending on whether or not they won their most recent game. Each year the rest of the staff anxiously awaits Jay's return from his Memorial Day Weekend salt-water fishing expedition so they can share in his catch. Much like the pre-2004 Red Sox though, it's always "Wait until next year."
John Magnant
"J Mags" is one of 6 siblings out of a family of 7 kids to work with us. (We want his sister Wendy to work for one day to complete the family!) He is our "Utility Man" who does everything: sales, landscaping, property maintenance, ordering. John is a Massachusetts Certified Horticulturist. John is also a Licensed Real Estate Broker, and he's just as good at that as he is here. Click on the link to his website at the "Search Links" bar on the left of this page to learn how he can help you if you're buying or selling a house or other property.
Nhieu Van Pham "Diep"
"Mr. Diep" is our Primary Landscape Foremen. He takes on our biggest projects and gets them done to the delight of our customers. He's been with us since the mid 80's, and each year has pots of super-hot red peppers growing all over the nursery. His Chinese New Year's celebrations are legendary, and "Mrs. Diep's" egg rolls are a company favorite.
Charlie Rasku
Charlie is our Principal Delivery Driver. We make over 1,500 mulch deliveries a year, and Charlie does more of them than anyone else. He's terrific at getting the mulch where the customer wants it, and that's not always as easy as it sounds. Charlie's family is our first three generation family of employees. His late father, Walter, worked with us in the 60's. His son, Danny is one of our landscapers. His wife, Tina, and their son, Jim, have also worked with us.
Dan Rasku
A third generation employee, Dan is a steady hand on our landscaping crew. In addition to his horticultural talents, he is quite a talented computer photo artist. Take a look at the magazine parody cover about our employeees in the office.
Joe Roccanti
Now with us for twelve years, Joe is another "Utility Player". He's a very valuable salesperson, who also keeps the store stocked and changes plant displays. Joe's irreverent humor keeps everybody smiling. (Ask him what "we" means when John Lebeaux says to him, "You know what I think we should do now?"). Occasionally we let him off the farm to help out on landscaping jobs.
Andy Silverberg
Andy started working for us in the spring of 2004 while a Shrewsbury High student. He's been a great help working weekends and during school vacations. Graduating high school in 2006, he now attends Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire.
Barbara Stafinski
Barbara started inquiring about a job here in the spring of 2004 but we didn't hire her until spring of 2005. On one hand we were very smart to hire her, but on the other we were pretty dumb to wait so long because she has been a great addition to our sales staff at the garden center. New to the nursery business, Barb, the mother of two boys, is both a very fast learner and very hard worker.
Mien Tran
With his uncle's decision to move away, Mien is now one of our foreman after working as part of our landscape team for many years. With his long experience, he knows just how to provide the special level of service our crews for which our crews are known.
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