Lillian M. Juhler

Lillian Margaret Juhler, whose family moved in the early 20th century to Winter Haven where she made a name as a pioneering businesswoman, died May 21, 2020 at her home here, confident in the Lord’s promise of life eternal. She was 104. Of Danish descent, she was born on August 4, 1915 in Culpeper Virginia. Her family moved to Polk county when she was two years old. Having obtained a teaching certificate from Florida Southern College in Lakeland, she was offered a job in Wauchula but chose instead to assist her mother at the family’s clothing store in Winter Haven. Lillian and her sister Eleanor took over the store after her mother’s death and renamed the store Juhler's Cottage Shop, which she and her sibling kept open for 40 years before closing the doors in 1984. Lillian came by her business acumen honestly, being one of her family’s long line of women entrepreneurs, starting with her grandmother who owned a women’s fur shop in Denmark in the late 1800s. Her love for travel began with a trip to Denmark and Sweden when she was eight years old to visit relatives. She continued her world journeys as an adult, visiting China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, Hong Kong, Africa, Egypt and Peru. Lillian was a quiet but sagacious woman who would give thoughtful advice to anyone who asked but would never offer her opinion unbidden. She was a wonderful listener and often said she learned more about a person from “what they said then from what she asked.” She would often sit in her chair and quietly think about things before she spoke or acted. She was a true chocoholic and would never turn down the opportunity to indulge in eating her favorite sweet. She was fond of her Manhattan cocktail that she sipped on all week, but if you asked her if she drank, her answer would always be a firm “No”. Lillian was a wonderful friend and a true Christian. She was a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Winter Haven for over 100 years. Lillian loved gardening and each year she would root Christmas cactus plants and give them to the church’s homebound members. In her generosity of spirit she will be forever missed but never forgotten. Lillian was preceded in death by her mother Emma Seiersen-Juhler in 1944, her father George Victor Juhler in 1953 and her sister Eleanor Elisabeth Juhler in 1991. She is survived by two cousins. Graveside services will be held Tuesday, June 2nd at 10:00 am at Oaklawn Cemetery, Winter Haven.