What’s your name and what fills your time?
My name is Tim Ellis and I’m a retired attorney. My parents moved to Jacksonville Beach back in 1954. Other than being away for college and law school the Beaches have always been my home. I’ve been really fortunate in that regard!!
Anything special going on for this summer?
Being retired I get to do a lot of surfing, some fishing, bike riding, traveling, enjoying life with my wonderful wife Teri and our kids and grandkids and spending time with friends.
There are ALWAYS new projects for our home here at the Beach and for the house we have up near Asheville, North Carolina. And we’re always looking for new adventures!
Any hobbies or interests worth telling us about?
Growing up here at the beach I was always addicted to the ocean and watersports. I was a member of Utika Surf club in the 60’s while at Fletcher High School. When I came back to the Beaches after law school, I was a Charter Member and very active in the Wavemaster’s Society and the surf community. In the late 1990’s I had neck surgery and transitioned from surfboards to kayaks and waveskis. And then around 2007 I encountered Standup Paddle Board Surfing while on a surf trip to Hawaii. I was immediately hooked and have been SUPing ever since. Over the last 40 or so years I’ve been lucky enough to surf and SUP many places around the world and hope to continue doing so for years to come.
What’s one thing (funny, different, cool) that many might not know about you?
A lot of people might not know that I was picked to do a national TV commercial for “ZEST SOAP” while I was in law school. It was shown all around the country and what was really great is that they paid me Screen Actor Guild wages. This meant that I got paid for every time the commercial was shown. Not being particularly frugal, I used some of the money I made to buy a new Fiat convertible, a 124 Spider. That might not have been the wisest purchase except that when I went back to law school with it, a beautiful, new freshman woman was impressed enough with my new wheels that she let me take her out……. the ultimate net result was our wonderful marriage of 47 years. (SCORE!!!)
How do you like living on the First Coast?
How lucky was I to have grown up here!!!! The Beaches were small. Everyone seemed to know everyone else. I went to PVPV elementary school, Fletcher High, played local sports and even got to SURF!! IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES!!! I wanted my kids to share that experience and so Teri and I moved back after law school. And so my kids got to experience some of the magic too. Admittedly, as the years have gone by, the Beaches have changed,….there are more and more people, more traffic, more “intensity”….but we are still “THE BEACHES”… we have our ocean…we still have our unique Beach Vibe…and this is still one of the greatest places that I can imagine to call home.
Anything else that you would like to tell the community?
Looking back over the last 70 years that the Beaches have been an integral part of my life, without question I have been “One Very Lucky Guy”!
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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.
