Janet Morrice Novak, 64, Ran Tisbury Flower Shop

After a year-long battle with cancer, Janet Morrice Novak died Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the age of 64.

Janet was born in Oak Bluffs on July 4, 1941, the daughter of James Morrice and Phyllis Hillner. She was born prematurely, weighing only two pounds, and had to spend the first two months of her life at the Martha's Vineyard Hospital. She attended the Tisbury School, where her mother was a teacher, and then went off to boarding school at Northfield School for Girls. She earned a business degree from LaSalle College in Newton in 1961.

After college she worked for New England Life Insurance in Boston for several years in the secretarial field. She lived in Ispwich while raising her two daughters, Laurie and Kim.

In 1976 she returned to the Vineyard to help her father operate his florist shop, Morrice the Florist. She was thrilled when her daughter, Kim, also decided to become a florist and work at Morrice's. Janet assumed ownership of the store in 1984; she took great pride in the flower shop.

She developed lifelong relationships with both the people that worked for her and her customers. Janet was someone whom everyone could trust and all respected. She was at all times kind and generous.

In 1980 she married John Novak, an Island builder, who predeceased her in September 2001. Together they built a home in Edgartown and, in 2000, a home in Vineyard Haven. Janet took great pleasure in her garden. When she was not at work at the flower shop, she was at home weeding.

She is survived by her two daughters, Laurie Halt and her husband, Michael, and their three children, Connor, Cooper and Maggie Johnson of Vineyard Haven, and Kim O'Callaghan and her children, Liam and Gillian O'Callaghan of Vineyard Haven. She also is survived by her brother, Charles Morrice of Hyannis.

A graveside service for the interment of her cremated remains will be held in the Oak Grove Cemetery on State Road in Vineyard Haven on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 2 p.m. The Rev. Roger Spinney will officiate.

Arrangements are under the care of the Chapman, Cole & Gleason Funeral Home on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road in Oak Bluffs. Visit www.ccgfuneralhome.com for online guestbook and information.