Superpowers: Experience and institutional knowledge
Owner, Gillespie’s Events and Florals
Growing up in White Sulphur Springs, Martha Gillespie Sams spent her childhood at Gillespie’s Flowers before earning an accounting degree from West Virginia University. After graduation—and a summer spent waitressing in Myrtle Beach—she returned home, putting both her accounting education and hands-on floral design training to work in the business her grandparents started.
Today, as a third-generation owner of Gillespie’s Events and Florals, Gillespie Sams oversees wedding and corporate events, accounting, and human resources while working alongside the fourth generation of her family to carry the business forward.
One wedding during the pandemic perfectly captured why she loves the work. After she helped relocate a Washington, D.C., wedding to The Greenbrier in just three months, the father of the bride left his dinner table during the reception to thank her personally for making the celebration possible.
“That had never happened before,” she says, and she credits moments like that to the teamwork behind every successful event. “None of it happens alone. It takes planners, designers, vendors, and our production crew all working together.”
Outside of work, Gillespie Sams is an active member of St. Thomas Episcopal Church and helped coordinate meals for volunteers and residents for more than a year following the devastating 2016 floods.
As she begins planning for retirement, Gillespie Sams is focused on passing along both the business and the lessons she’s learned, ensuring the next generation is ready to carry forward a family legacy that has served the Greenbrier Valley and surrounding area for more than a century.
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