Celebrating Pine Islanders: Mike George
Mike George said his life’s philosophy is to try not to have any enemies. So far, it’s worked for him to get along with everybody.
“I try to put other people before myself, and not make ripples I guess,” George said.
Led to Pine Island by his maternal grandparents, George said, they were the first in his family to come in approximately 1979. They lived right in Bokeelia and his immediate family spent a great deal of time with them. He was about 11 or 12, he said, when he figured out how amazing Pine Island really was.
“I had a little boat and my cousins lived down here at the time. We spent the summers fishing and camping around Cayo Costa. It didn’t take me very long to figure out that I liked it here. It was different times back then,” George said.
He finally moved down for good between 1999 and 2000 and, like a true Pine Islander, he’s been helping out where and when he can whenever he finds himself with an opportunity to lend a hand, ever since.
“It’s coming back to me in a seriously humbling way these days,” George said.
After storms and most serious situations, most folks try to pitch in and offer help in any way they can, he said, insisting that the help he’s given through the years has been nothing especially out of the ordinary. Everyone that’s been on this island long enough has done something to help someone else, he said.
“I haven’t done anything that would stand out. I just try to make friends with everybody and help out when I can,” George said.
If he ever had to tell people about Pine Island who’d never heard of it, he said he’d likely say it’s laid-back, awesome and full of good people.
“There’s also a lot of great musicians and artists with awesome fishing,” George said.
His greatest wish for Pine Island might include a time machine, he said.
“It would be nice to reset the time a little bit and do away with some of the condos and stuff that have gone up over the years. If it was a little shorter I could get to St. James a little easier. No, I like it as is, but I do miss the way it was in the ‘
80s. Less busy, less traffic, ” George said.
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