Michael Florence is not a native to Lonoke, but he’s been there long enough to develop a love for his new hometown.
Florence, who, along with his wife, Rosanne, owns and operates ALPS Laminating in Lonoke, was recently honored as the Lonoke Area Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year.
“I was a little flabbergasted by it,” Florence said. “I sure didn’t expect it. I was a little surprised. I was a little bit suspicious when people showed up who don’t normally show up to the banquet.
“I feel very blessed by it and thankful for the people of the city of Lonoke.”
And Florence, who lived in Little Rock after moving to Arkansas from the Memphis area in the 1970s, is appreciative of his friends and citizens in Lonoke after being diagnosed with cancer in January.
“There are so many people around this town praying for me,” he said. “You may get that in the big city, but not like you do in a small town.”
Florence was nominated for the top citizen award by his daughter, Megan Gray.
“My dad is the epitome of the Citizen of the Year,” she said. “If it has to do with the betterment of Lonoke, then he has been leading that force or been involved in some way.”
Josh Kinder, president of the Lonoke Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, said Florence is a great choice for citizen of the year.
“Michael has been a resident of Lonoke and has tirelessly put in efforts for the community and the chamber,” Kinder said. “He is just a very dedicated citizen to everything Lonoke.
“He gives back through his business to the area. He employees local, young adults. All those characteristics are what we look for in Citizen of the Year.”
Florence got into the laminating business while working for his father in Memphis.
“My dad had a similar business in Memphis, mainly binding, laminating and IDs,” Florence said. “Dad said, ‘I need a salesman in Arkansas, and you’re nominated.’ I didn’t know a soul in the state of Arkansas. I would come over here occasionally with Dad. It was in 1982 when Dad decided to sell the business.”
Florence said he was able to keep his Arkansas customer base and moved to Little Rock.
“We had a $500, 18-inch laminator in the back bedroom of the house in Little Rock,” he said. “That is how I started the business; I knocked on a lot of doors.”
Florence eventually moved his laminating business, ALPS, to various locations in Little Rock, including an area near Cajun’s Wharf by the Arkansas River.
“We moved ALPS from Little Rock to Lonoke in 1998,” he said. “We lived in Little Rock until 1987. Megan was born in 1985. I was paying $2,000 a month in rent.”
He purchased the building on Front Street from Walls McCrary.
“It’s not an ideal location because we have so much semi traffic that goes through here in the back of the building,” Florence said. “Our future plan is to build a freestanding building on the outside of town but still remain in Lonoke. I don’t know where it will be.”
ALPS Laminate does primarily commercial work.
“We don’t do any walk-in business,” Florence said. “That’s why we were in the warehouse where we were. Everything goes out our backdoor. We needed more space, and we needed to be closer to home.”
Florence said he still has a lot of customers in central Arkansas.
“About 70 percent of our database is not in Arkansas,” he said. “Those who are, we told them we’d take better care of them than we did in Little Rock. Most of them ran by and dropped off jobs and picked them up when we were there.
“When we moved to Lonoke, we offered free pickup and delivery Monday through Friday, which we still do to this day. We still have pretty much all of those original customers.”
Florence and his wife have been married 39 years. Rosanne Florence has roots in Lonoke.
“My wife’s grandmother was born and raised here, Lucille Autry,” he said. “We were living in Little Rock and wanted to raise Megan in a small community, get out of Little Rock.”
Lonoke was not the Florences’ first choice.
“We were looking at Cabot, Bryant and Conway,” he said. “We’re thankful that we moved to Lonoke now, for numerous reasons. One is that it’s a really easy commute to Little Rock. You can get into the city easily, then back to small-town living. It has better schools. It’s better being around a small-town group of folks. I can attest to that.
“Obviously, I moved my business here, and I joined the chamber. I was asked by several people to run for the City Council. It was coming up a long time ago.”
Florence has served on the Lonoke City Council since 2003, just starting his 17th year. Additionally, he’s served on the Zoning Committee, economic development, the Lyons Club, the Lonoke Community Center Board of Directors and is also involved with Lonoke 2022, a plan to help revitalize the downtown area of Lonoke.
“I think we’re on a positive growth right now,” Florence said. “We started that kick-start program a few years ago. I was on the board of that. That evolved into what is now known as Lonoke 2022. Some of those action plans have already come to fruition, like the lights down the walking trail to the ballpark. Some of the Beautification Committee members put potted flowers along Front Street in different places.
“My wife said I’ve been on every committee there is around here because I show up for them.”
Florence said he wants Lonoke to prosper.
“I live in this little town,” he said. “I like helping people and doing things for people. I don’t do everything out front. We do some things behind the scenes. We don’t do it for show. We just want to be helping however we can. We’ve been blessed. We want to pass that on.”
Florence’s medical issues started in December when a lump came up on the side of his neck.
“I went to see Dr. Les Anderson, and he said we needed to get a biopsy,” he said. “The doctor took [the lump] out. We didn’t know for a few days, then found out it was cancerous. The doctor did what was known as a throat dissection. They took out 17 lymph nodes and my right tonsil. Three of the 17 were cancerous.”
Florence was prescribed with six weeks of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation at CARTI (the Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute).
“I have radiation five days a week for the next six weeks,” he said. “This is 95 percent curable. I just have to go through the process.”
Florence was diagnosed with squamous-cell carcinoma.
“I apparently caught it fast enough that it didn’t spread too far,” he said. “Hopefully, this radiation will zap the rest of it.”
Florence said his brother-in-law in Tennessee had a similar experience and died.
“He waited too long,” Florence said. “The lump was pretty swollen for a month. I still have a little bit of it.”
Despite the health scare, Florence said, he has no plans to slow down.
“I just enjoy being involved in the city, knowing what’s going on, trying to help it grow,” he said.
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.