20-year-old, killed in U.S. 127 crash, was building a life as a florist, co-workers say

In the basement of Hyacinth House, a longtime florist in Lansing’s Baker-Donora neighborhood, Leocadia Lovelace’s workspace remains as she left it last week.

Fading residue from flower stems sticks to the blade of a large, floral stem cutter on her table. Her latest arrangements are preserved in a nearby cooler. And in a craft coffee mug — designed like a baby chick holding the egg it hatched out of — are several bows she made.

Lovelace, or “Leo” as co-workers knew her, had been learning floral design, and tying bows is the finishing touch.

“You pretty much start out processing … processing is just cutting the stems when they come in,” said Jenny Beck, a co-worker who spent her days working alongside Lovelace. “And then you start putting them in vases. And then you start making arrangements. We have a couple arrangements in the cooler that she made. I’m like, I don’t want to get rid of them.”

Lovelace, 20, died in a car crash on U.S. 127 last week as she drove from her home in Mason. Her 5-year-old son, who was riding with her, was hospitalized with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries, police said. The Ingham County Sheriff's Office did not respond to an immediate request for his most recent condition.

Her co-workers first got to know Lovelace early last year. She was looking for a job, and had walked south down Pennsylvania Avenue from the duplex where she and her girlfriend, and future fiancee, lived. Hyacinth House was the first potential employer she checked.

Upon getting hired by previous co-owner Jim Schmidt, she began cleaning up around the facility, business owner Cliff McClumpha said.

“She really was instantly making a contribution," Schmidt said. "And she had such a zip for life and for doing good, and she really responded well to encouragement."

Lovelace quickly became a fixture at the shop. She had an earnest personality and little-to-no filter when talking with customers, co-workers said.

“I taught her how to do a (phone) order, because you know, when you’re 20 you don’t really have the best phone experience,” Beck said. “And I’m like, ‘It could be a little old lady on the other line, so don’t use any slang.’”

Lovelace had a difficult life, her co-workers said. She grew up in foster care, McClumpha said, and she was seeking a more stable childhood for her son. Hyacinth House offered a job that was helping her get there, but it was also part of her young family’s support system.

“She was getting really good ... she was very proud of her work, and we were proud of her — because you could tell she really cared and wanted to put effort in to not only contributing for us, but for herself,” McClumpha said of Lovelace's nascent design work. “We all pretty much kind of took her under our wing.”

She and her son had recently moved from the duplex to a nicer home in Mason with her fiancee, co-workers said. She drove to work and transported her son to and from school in a car that she'd purchased.

Lovelace was driving in the northbound lanes of U.S. 127 June 23 when, police said, her vehicle went off the road and collided with a disabled vehicle on the right shoulder.

Hyacinth House staff is organizing a celebration of life for Lovelace; a date has yet to be determined, according to an online fundraiser. That fundraiser is collecting donations to start a 529 college savings account for her son.

The fundraiser: Link here

"Coming from a background of being a foster (kid) herself, that’s why she loved (her son) so much. She wanted to be there for him since she grew up without that," McClumpha said. "She’s definitely going to be missed around here and it’s definitely a big hole."

Contact reporter Jared Weber at 517-582-3937 or jtweber@lsj.com.