Stories from the Heart

A Real-Life Encyclopedia Brown 

I love a good mystery! Growing up in Northern Michigan in the 70s and 80s, I was pretty much a bookworm. I could spend hours reading a book, and my favorites were Louis L’Amour Westerns and the Encyclopedia Brown series of books. Louis L’Amour stories were filled with gunfights and breathtaking action. Having been named after Jesse James, the famous gunfighter, I think contributed to my love for westerns. Growing up, I was told I had been named after Jesse James because some of our relatives hailed from Kentucky, and Jesse James apparently had relatives there that we were attached to through marriage.  

Years later, a DNA test from Ancestry would fail to prove that story true. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted! I’m not giving up hope, though, that somewhere in my family history I’m related to some gunfighters and bad guys. When I wasn’t reading Westerns and acting out the stories (I always played Jesse James), I was busy reading mysteries. Encyclopedia Brown was my go-to book. Oh, I read Sherlock Holmes as well, but Encyclopedia Brown was easy to relate to. His name was Leroy Brown, and he was only ten years old. Pretty much every story was the same: something disappeared, or someone was being framed for a petty crime, and while listening to the facts, Encyclopedia would discover something within the story that would lead to him solving it. So besides helping his dad, who was the police chief, he also ran his own private sleuth business out of his dad's garage helping the neighborhood kids.  

Years later, and many other books having been read, I moved to Chokoloskee to take the pastorate of the local church on the island.  

One day, I rode my bike to Outdoor Resorts of America and ran into a man whose office sits alongside the parking lot for the boat ramp. I didn’t literally run into him, though I am known to be a crazy driver at times. I met the person who runs the boat ramp and sees to it that tourists have a place to stay, either in his little motel or with their RV inside the ORA campground. The moment I met Kenny, I knew I had discovered something that thousands of others have discovered. Encyclopedia Brown is alive and well; he lives here in South Florida and goes by the name Kenny Brown.  

Kenny was born and raised here on Chokoloskee, and due to the beauty and unique history of the Everglades, we get visitors from all over the world. It's not uncommon to walk into his office with views of Chokoloskee and the islands seen from his desk, and meet people from Germany, Denmark, or the U.K. And they’ll usually be enjoying a short history lesson from Kenny Brown.  

Want to know about the Calusa or the Seminoles who lived here? Kenny’s great-great-grandfather, John Joseph Brown, worked with them as an agent here on Chokoloskee back in the 1800s. Did you know there have been some high-profile plane crashes in the Everglades? Kenny can share things with you about some of those as if it happened yesterday. Sure, larger cities have libraries and thousands of books, but Chokoloskee has Kenny Brown. He not only shares a wealth of information about many topics, but the stories come alive like a real-life movie when he shares them.  

So, the next time you're hankering for a story, some real history, instead of running to the local library in Naples, take a short drive over to Chokoloskee, to a place called Outdoor Resorts of America, and stop in. The coffee is fresh, the smiles are genuine, and there you’ll find Kenny ready to serve up some real Everglades stories that will keep you fully engaged. You might also meet some folks visiting from around the world, or from across the country. Seems like Kenny has a lot of friends from all over, people who have discovered that down in the Everglades, on a small island,resides a real-life Encyclopedia Brown, Kenny Brown that is. And tell him Pastor Jesse sent you; he’ll be waiting for you with an exciting tale to share! 

Jesse currently pastors Chokoloskee Family Church on Chokoloskee Island along with his wife Charity. They are beginning their seventh year and have overseen the construction of a new 160 seat church that is scheduled to open in August of this year. Their growing congregation keeps them busy with local outreaches and  community events. They have two grandkids that live in the area who also attends their church along with their daughter and son in-law.