Anthony Claire Maier

Anthony Claire Maier -89

Of Tifton, Georgia passed away Sunday, May 27, 2007 at Tifton Regional Hospital after a brief illness. He was born November 4th , 1917 to Mr. Anthony & Isabella Maier of Little Neck, Queens L.I.N.Y. He spent his youth in Bellmore N. Y. graduating from Hempstead High School in 1934. He then attended Cornell University and upon graduation in 1938 entered the U. S. Army as a 2nd Lt. He served in the Army Artillery, being discharged in 1946 as a Major, having served in the Pacific Theater of Operations during WWII. For his service he received the Bronze Star with Valor and a Purple Heart among other honors.
In 1948 he purchased his first greenhouse in Wantagh N.Y., where he grew carnations and his business was named Mill Road Greenhouses. While in NY he served as the Carnation Grower Association President. In 1954 he moved his carnation business to Roanoke, VA and began operations as Bent Mountain Greenhouses until 1975. In 1963 he served as President of the American Carnation Society. He was a Carnation creator who won numerous medals for his creations, like Mr. White, Ellen Marie, and Dusty. After his retirement from growing over a million carnations yearly, he became a traveler and circled the world during his adventures. He married Eleanor Marie Becker of Morganville, New Jersey, in 1940 and they had one daughter, Ellen Marie Maier Rockwell now living in Dallas Texas. He moved to Tifton Georgia, in 2003 to be with his nephew Retired Colonel, Mark Petermann and his wife Ann. Mr. Maier’s sister Ms. Marielouise Petermann passed in 2002. He is survived by his sister Ms. Elizabeth Blackart who lives in NYC, and his brother Mr. Oscar Maier who lives in Ashville NC.

Funeral Services were held at 9:00 a.m. Thursday, May 31, 2007 in the Chapel of Albritton–Beaumont Funeral Directors in Tifton, Georgia with burial following at Andersonville National Cemetery in Andersonville, GA with full military honors.

Music Funeral Services of Lakeland is serving the Maier family.