Loren G. Brown

Loren Gerome Brown, nicknamed "Totch", (March 12, 1920 – May 8, 1996) was an author of historical accounts and first-hand descriptions of life in the Florida Everglades.[1] He wrote Totch, A Life in the Everglades. The book describes Floridians survived off the land from the late 1800s until recent times.[2]

His real name and nickname were given to him by a family friend who was the caretaker for the Indiana family's winter home in Florida.[2] At age 13 he quit school to work full-time during the Great Depression. He was a commercial fisherman on the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Bay, hunted gators, and was an infantryman at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, earning a Bronze Star. He was also a drug runner and did time in prison for tax evasion,[2] being arrested as part of Operation Everglades.[3] His family lives in Chokoloskee.[2]

"While life in the Everglades was no picnic, the privilege of living a free life that close to nature was worth all the hardships that came with it: coping with alligators, panthers, and rattlesnakes on muddy lands filled with poison ivy, spiders, and mosquitoes so thick you could rake `em off your brow by the handful."[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Totch Brown Describes His Life in the Everglades and His Book and Videos".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Smuggling, gators and the IRS -- a rugged Floridian's life Osceola's History July 24, 2005 by Jim Robison Orlando Sentinel
  3. ↑ Warner, David T. (2001). Vanishing Florida : a personal guide to sights rarely seen. Internet Archive. Montgomery, Ala. : River City Pub. pp. 234–235. ISBN 978-0-913515-49-5.
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