What’s your name and what fills your time?
I’m Cam Brown. My family goes back more than 250 years to St. Augustine. I am an 8th generation Floridian. My mother’s family are Micklers, one of the pioneer families from Palm Valley, although both my parents’ families had been here a number of generations. My Mickler grandparents’ house is still on Third St. as the “In the Pink” house at 5th Avenue North. My father was a career naval aviator so we moved around a bit but because we had nine children in our family they transferred him around to the three bases in Jax a lot. We came back to Jax Beach for good when I was in 8th grade and we lived in what I thought was East Jesus – at the very end of Seagate Avenue on the Intracoastal between Ocean Forest and Indian Woods. Family owned all the undeveloped property back there, about 40 acres. It’s all developed now, but I think they did a really good job with it. I tell my children that I walked to school, not in the cold and snow, but the heat, horse flies and dirt. When I was in my late 20’s I moved to New York City to get out of “this podunk town.” It took that radical change for me to appreciate how wonderful a place our little beach town would be to raise a family.
Anything special going on for this summer?
My focus this summer is totally politically focused, toward the primary in August and the presidential election in November. Beyond that, I am practicing my pool floating and just had my 50th Fletcher High School Reunion. Go Class of ’74! There is something special about staying close to those with whom experienced the rites of passage.
Any hobbies or interests worth telling us about?
I am an occasional quilter. Because of the time, floor space and back strength needed, I now stick to baby quilts for special people. My friends, however, love the quilts photos I post twice a week on Facebook. Pickleball is my other passion. I am definitely a winter weather pickleball aficionado. I often walk the beach from 37th Avenue South to the Ponte Vedra Club and back. Most of my time now is spent in Republican politics. I became engaged after the last presidential election. I felt I needed to do something to inform change. So I joined the local Republican Women’s Club and quickly found myself in leadership and am now First Vice President of the largest club of over something like 75 or more clubs in Florida. I also volunteered at the Duval GOP headquarters, just working the front desk. They say do what you love and it will lead you to good things; now I am the District Aide to a local state representative who is also the chairman of the Duval GOP. I never thought at my age that I would be back in an office, but here I am learning how the sausage is made! I started as a legislative aide, traveling to Tallahassee whenever the representative did and working on passing legislation. I traded jobs recently so I am now the District Aide and don’t have to travel. I absolutely love my job.
What’s one thing (funny, different, cool) that many might not know about you?
I enlisted in the Marine Corps straight out of high school. It allowed me to put myself through the University of Florida on the GI Bill. That and being in the Florida Army National Guard during college.
How do you like living on the First Coast?
When I was in my late 20’s I moved to New York City without a job to land in publishing to get out of “this podunk town.” It took that radical change for me to appreciate how really wonderful a place our little beach town would be to raise a family. The last thing I wanted was to fall in love with an investment banker and never get out of NYC! The connections we make as residents of a small town such as the Beaches are irreplaceable.
Anything else that you would like to tell the community?
Our community is a wonderful blend of long-time Beach folk mixed with relative newcomers who are energized to make it better. We natives consider those who moved here 40 years ago as newcomers! We old timers hold the history and soul of our Beaches. I went to Fletcher as did my mother. I read recently where someone call the Micklers “elitists” which in all my days I have never heard my country folk referred to as such! I was at a small brunch of about ten people the other day talking about how I can be among ten people and find an unknown Mickler cousin among the group and no one would be surprised. One of the guests said he thought his brother might have been married to my cousin. Sure enough! The most small town Beach story, however, might be that Kaye Kaufmann, put on the wedding of my father and step mother back in 1966 in her family home in South Jax Beach on the oceanfront. These are the relationships we remember sixty years later that matter because of their significance. Our Beach will always have a heart and soul of history while at the same time inspire its future development. Always onward.
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Mike is a native First Coaster and was a leading figure in surfing and skateboarding for most of his life. After promoting music for many years on the local music scene, Mike now brings a unique perspective to FirstCoast.Life as a contributing writer.
