Dorothy Cooper provided thousands of corsages and floral arrangements, including some for the White House.

Dorothy Gould Fowler Cooper once owned more than 10,000 orchid plants.

She started with a half-dozen plants she shipped home in a trunk from Hawaii as a young military wife. Her growing collection migrated from windowsills and tables into two greenhouses her husband built in their Arlington County backyard as well as two greenhouses in Herndon and one in Vienna.

Beginning in 1950, she ran a business from home at first called The Orchid House and later incorporated as Dorothy's Orchids Inc.

Mrs. Cooper, who retired in 1986, died April 26 at her Arlington home.

A funeral will be held May 22 at 11:30 p.m. at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Arlington. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery.

"Mom provided thousands of corsages and floral arrangements for high school proms, weddings, receptions and debutante balls," said her son, Basil Pearson Cooper Jr. of Huntsville, Ala. If there was an event that occasioned flowers in Northern Virginia, someone was on the phone to Mrs. Cooper.

She occasionally provided corsages for the White House. First ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Pat Nixon had worn her flowers, her son said.

"You had to call her months in advance if you wanted her to do your flowers," said her other son, John Edward Fowler Cooper of Arlington. "You called her as soon as you got engaged to reserve the date [if you wanted her to do your wedding flowers]."

Mrs. Cooper kept her blossoms in seven household refrigerators rearranged to her purposes. Two days before an event, she would begin her floral creations to make sure blooms would be opened to their grandest on the specified day and would work all night. She did at least two weddings a weekend for decades.

The 96-year-old Richmond native was born to privilege, growing up in homes in Richmond, Washington and Palm Beach, Fla. She graduated from Arlington Hall finishing school.

Mrs. Cooper was married for 35 years to Basil Pearson Cooper, a lawyer who died in 1975. Her parents disowned her for marrying him, Basil Cooper Jr. said, but "she was always comfortable with her decision.

"She went from living in three homes and having servants to living on a civil servant's salary. I remember her getting out a tub and washboard and washing our clothes when my father was stationed in Hawaii. She didn't bat an eyelash.

"She was one of the kindest, gentlest people you'd ever want to meet, but she had a strong will. If she wanted to get something done, she knew how to do it."

In addition to her sons, survivors include two granddaughters.