Remembering Paul Schnare: The beloved 'Dr. Grow' of Southeast Missouri

Paul Schnare on Dec. 17, 2019, at Sunny Hill Gardens & Florist in Cape Girardeau. Schnare died Tuesday, Aug. 20, at age 79.

Southeast Missourian file

A passionate horticulturist and “friend to all", Paul Schnare affected many lives in Southeast Missouri.

Schnare, along with his wife, Marilyn, owned and operated Sunny Hill Garden and Florist in Cape Girardeau from 1992 to 2022. Affectionately known as “Dr. Grow” — the pseudonym he used for his weekly gardening column in the Southeast Missourian — Schnare was recognized as a “loving, caring Christian", and took pride in helping others.

He died Tuesday, Aug. 20, at 79.

“If you know Paul, he was always gregarious, he was always friendly, he was always optimistic, and he communicated that quite well,” Michael Aide, SEMO agriculture professor and friend of Schnare’s, said. “He always saw the glass as half full.”

Born in Marshall on May 21, 1945, Schnare and his family moved to Cape Girardeau in 1955, where he attended Central High School. As a child, he helped his father, Ronnie Schnare, tend the garden in the lot behind his home, which sparked his passion for horticulture.

"My dad gave me a hoe and a spade and put me to work," Schnare said in a 2022 interview with the Southeast Missourian.

After graduating high school, Schnare attended University of Missouri and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in forestry in 1967.

He married Marilyn Brockmiller on Dec. 17, 1966, and the couple remained together for the next 58 years. The Schnares had two children, Nicole and Paul, who were born in 1970 and 1973, respectively. Paul preceded his father in death in a car accident on Nov. 25, 1987, at 14 years old.

“He was a family-oriented individual,” Aide said. “He had children. He had extended family, and everybody was close. I know Marilyn, his wife, and they were a very loving couple. They attended church together, they were very religious. He was a person that you could point to as a solid participant in your citizenry as well, and he was well admired for that.”

A talented musician, Schnare played clarinet, saxophone and bassoon in the Cape Central band and orchestra. He also played saxophone and bassoon with Mizzou’s band and orchestra on a music scholarship.

In 1969, Schnare was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He was stationed for two years at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Following his military service, Schnare earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in plant physiology and biochemistry.

Schnare had many business ventures. He started Lawn Care Co. in 1975 while still living in Columbia and partnered with Atkins Chemical Co. the next year to form Atkins Lawn Care Co. Schnare purchased the Cape Girardeau and Carbondale divisions of Atkins Lawn Care in 1981 and started Accu Spray Lawn Care Co., then purchased Ochs Greenhouse and Florist, which he renamed Accu Grow Gardens and Florist, in 1983. In 1992, he bought Sunny Hill Garden Center in Cape Girardeau, changed the name to Sunny Hill Gardens and Florist and ran the business with his wife for 20 years.

While running Sunny Hill, Schnare taught agriculture classes at Southeast Missouri State University from 2006 to 2010. Aide, the chairman of the Agriculture Department at the time, reminisced fondly of his time working with Schnare.

“I knew him a little bit by just going into Sunny Hill Garden Center,” Aide said. “But then I got to know him better. When he started working with us, we worked on an everyday basis so we developed a really strong relationship. His family knows my family, and vice versa.”

A look at Paul Schnare's Southeast Missourian columns

Richard Dowd, owner of EstateScapes Landscaping, worked for Schnare while also taking his classes at SEMO. Dowd had decided to make a career change after working in construction for many years and reached out to Schnare for help.

“I went to him and told him my situation, which the career I was going into was in the hort industry, and he hired me, gave me a job, and worked around my class schedules,” Dowd said. “He was a big help to me in that way. … I had been in construction all my life, so it was a different field that I had a lot to learn.”

Dowd recalled a time when Schnare went out of his way to help someone in need while he worked at Sunny Hill.

“There was a young man that was down on his luck. He took him in and got him an apartment where he could be close enough to ride his bicycle, and gave him a job,” Dowd said.

As “Dr. Grow,” Schnare contributed a weekly column to the Southeast Missourian from the mid-1990s to 2020. He also gave gardening advice on KFVS-TV during a Saturday morning segment called “Gardening with Paul Schnare", and had a radio segment on K-103.

“I would travel with him around parts of Southeast Missouri,” Aide said. “I remember once we went to a meeting in Pittsburgh. On the way back, we stopped somewhere over in Illinois, but it was more toward Indiana than Missouri, and somebody in the convenience store we stopped at said, ‘You're that guy on TV from Cape Girardeau.’ He had that personality that everybody could connect with.”

Schnare’s funeral will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, and his burial will be at Cape County Memorial Park Cemetery. Memorial contributions can be given to the Chris Schnare Memorial Fund at Trinity Lutheran Church, Trinity Lutheran School or Saxony Lutheran High School.

“We’re just all heartbroken that he’s not with us,” Aide said.