“California look” with some of his floral arrangements.
A handwritten note from a U.S. Army veteran to First Lady Betty Ford led to a 12-year stint in a unique White House job for a Queens native.
Frank Lazarro regaled more than 70 attendees at the Syosset Library on July 24 with an hour-long recollection of his service as Holiday and State Dinner Decorator in the Ford, Carter and Reagan White House. His floral designs graced the tables at special White House events that included receptions for the Queen of England, the Emperor of Japan and the U.S. Governors. Lazarro and his assistants also decorated the White House Christmas tree for three Presidents.
Lazarro recalled how, as an Army Sergeant and paratrooper, he had written Mrs. Ford that he had seen a photo of the White House Christmas tree and wanted to decorate it as he had done for a Christmas tree at the Army base where he had been stationed.
“I wrote a popular slogan of the time on the envelope: ‘Hire a Vet, It’s a Good Bet,’” he said. Weeks later, he received a response from a White House staff member and an invitation to decorate the tree. Lazarro recalled his mother answering the phone and calling out to him, with her heavy Italian accent, “Frankie, did you paint a house?
Somebody from the white house is calling.” Lazarro ran to the phone. The job led to a long-term assignment heading up a staff that provided floral arrangements for holiday and state dinners.
With numerous photographs and often humorous anecdotes of his encounters with Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter and Nancy Reagan, Lazarro described how his floral decorations and access to historic White House artifacts helped him gain national recognition and sparked his career as an independent florist with three locations in the New York area.
With many self-deprecating reminiscences, Lazarro described how, as a young man in his mid-20s, he began “rubbing elbows” with First Ladies and Presidents who often treated him as a member of the Presidential family.
Always aware of the formality and respect he was told by Secret Service agents to show the First Family, Lazarro said he once found himself in a discussion with Mrs. Ford and Julia Child, who was helping arrange a State Dinner.
“They were calling each other by their first names — ‘Would you like this, Betty?’ ‘What about this, Julia?’ — and all I was thinking was if I slip up and use first names, too, I’ll wind up back in the Army!”
Lazarro said he used to carry a tube of Krazy Glue when he worked on decorating “just in case anything I was handling broke!” He recalled putting flowers in a vase owned by Dolly Madison and another from Napoleon’s reign. “I was actually shaking, thinking of how historic and valuable these objects were.” He also worked with Christmas tree ornaments that had graced trees going back to the Lincoln Administration.
Lazarro preceded his presentation with historical facts about the evolution of the White House, from George Washington to the present day.
At the end of his talk, Lazarro raffled off a basket of seasonal flowers that he designed on stage.
