Floral arrangements being prepared for fallen RPD officer’s funeral

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — As the City of Rochester prepares for Monday’s funeral for fallen Officer Tony Mazurkiewicz, floral arrangements are also being prepared for the service.

News10NBC talked to a local florist who got the call to be a part of it.

Several different floral shops are taking part in preparing all the floral arraignments that will be on display throughout the funeral service.

"It’s always an honor to be asked to create something for a fallen RPD, or anyone who is in community service," said Wendy Rockcastle, Co-Owner of Rockcastle Florist.

News10NBC visited Rockcastle as she was putting the finishing touches on a Blessed Heart arraignment. Rockcastle says flowers have a special purpose in times like these.

"I think the flowers and the tribute give them something to focus on. Something to just take a minute out, and remember them, and honor them," said Rockcastle.

Friday both she, and her husband will work on their next piece. They will recreate Officer Anthony Mazurkiewicz’s police badge.

"It will have his badge number over the center of it. I think the last one we did was for Officer Pierson," said Rockcastle.

She says the piece should take most of the day to complete.

"I ordered about 100 individual flowers to come in tomorrow to be placed on that piece. So it’s hard to gauge at this point, but I would say somewhere around 1000 blooms," said Rockcastle.

Once finished she’ll have Mazurkiewicz’s colleagues come and see it, just like they did for Officer Daryl Pierson.

"We got a lot of feedback from it. A lot of people were not only impressed that you could take flowers, and create something that’s more architectural, it doesn’t really look like a bouquet it’s more like an artist’s rendering with flowers of his badge in those colors," said Rockcastle.

Rockcastle is not the only florist participating.

"Everybody wants to be able to do something. They want to be able to honor his life in some way, and thankfully there are other florists to share the amount of work that will come in, and that way we can all do a great job on it," said Rockcastle.

In lieu of flowers, donations are now being accepted by the Rochester Police Locust Club. Officer Mazurkiewicz’s funeral will be held at Blue Cross Arena on Monday.