Runs In The Family

I found an article in the Miami News dated Sep. 9th, 1944 about my grandfather on my mothers' side that read: Air Transport Command's 36th St.army airbase, the ATC, named Major Collis L. Jordan (my grandfather) as the new public relations officer who for 10 months was the public relations officer in the European theater with the Allied Expeditionary Air Forces. A veteran officer, Major Jordan was commissioned in the military intelligence reserve in 1933 and ordered to active duty in 1940 as public relations officer for the Sixth Corps area, Chicago where he served for 21 months. He was then transferred to Ellington Field, Texas as public relations officer and later to the European theater. He assisted in handling D-Day news dissemination in supreme headquarters, London. A former sports editor of the old Miami Tribune, and a member of the editorial staff of the Chicago Daily News before going into active military duty, Major Jordan, his wife, and his 14 year old daughter, (my mother) Nancy Jane will make their home in Miami.
My grandfathers' residence in 1935 was Erie, New York. His home was in Chicago, Ill in 1940 @ 1464 Hollywood Ave. Born in Illinois in1903.

The link to the actual newspaper story :  CLICK HERE!!!


My mother, Nancy Jane Jordan, went to nursing school in Chicago and became a registered nurse. She was really into Fencing and from what I heard, really good at it. She moved me down to Marathon from Miami after my fathers' death and raised me by herself until she married my stepfather when I was 5 years old. She worked at Fisherman's hospital in Marathon and went on to work at Dr. E.J. Eisenbarths' private practice. She passed away at Fisherman's hospital when I was 15 years old from pancreatic cancer.


My step father, Donald "Doc" MacDonald was a corporal in the Army during World War 2 who grew up in the Great Depression. He also was a member of the American Legion, the Elks, the Moose, D.A.V. and the Masonic Temple, among numerous other organizations and positions in Marathon. He was one of the first doctors in Marathon as well as the constable at some point. He also was a licenced chiropractor.He retired from working for the Veterans Affairs administration in Marathon. By weird coincidence, I found a original military army air corp uniform shirt that had corporal stripes with a tag dated from 1942, the World War II era. I got it for free at the Salvation Army here in Key West.


As far as my biological father, William Fred Sanders, I don't know much other than he was shot and killed in Miami when I was 6 months old and the courts deemed it as a justified homicide. I need to ask my brother more about the details. My brother told me it had something to do with my father being drunk and trying to get into a house one of our cousins' owned or something like that and my father was adamant about getting into it for some reason and they told him not to try and get in or they would shoot him and they did. After some research at the Miami library, I found out my father had a golf driving range in Miami called Fred Sanders Driving Range - 1750 N.W. 28th St.

Which is now Juan Pablo Duarte Park and my mother told me when I was a kid, that golf pro Doug Sanders was my cousin, which would make some sense with the golf connection. My brother also told me that my father won a golf competition for "Longest Drive Of The South".


My brother, who is 17 years older than I am, and I have the same mother but different fathers, his name is John Michael Berry and he graduated medical school at the University of Miami with honors and was on the Dean's list. He went on to do his internship at Stanford University in California. Today, he is an oncologist for the University of San Francisco and has recently been promoted to Professor and lives in the San Francisco Bay area and happily married to his gay partner.


My brother has always been supportive of my dreams and decisions and has bailed my ass out of a lot of situations that would of made me homeless a whole lot sooner. My step father wanted me to go into the military. I took the ASVAB test for the military when I was a senior at Marathon High. The army recruiter out of Key West really wanted me to join and even told me that my test scores reflected that I could become a pilot in the armed forces. While in high school, I joined the Monroe County Sheriff's Department Cadet Explorer program in Marathon and got a 100% score on the police code test and eventually received the rank of Sargent. Sargent Sanders, it's got a nice ring to it, don't it? Anyway, I would ride along with deputies and we would respond to calls. Anything from burglaries to traffic accidents. One day, we responded to a call at the old Reef bar. The caller said that there was a man at the bar with a gun. I was with Trish Daly, she ran the Explorer program, and we were the first to arrive. She handed me a shotgun and told me to point it toward the front door of the bar as she went inside. Now I was scared shit less. I had shot a 410 shotgun before ( when I was about 12 years old and it nearly took my shoulder off) but that was at a paper target for the turkey shoot next to the American Legion but this was fucking REAL LIFE or DEATH type shit. What would I do if the guy came out with a hostage with a gun to their head. I mean, my head was spinning. After that, I decided that law enforcement wasn't for me plus the fact that I got arrested by then deputy, now Sheriff Rick Ramsay, more on that later. (Cliff Hanger, oops!) I have to save something for the book I probably will, quite possibly publish in the distant future. So the thought of becoming a Sheriffs' deputy in Marathon diminished. I was really into rebellious rock n' roll bands like Motley Crue, Guns n' Roses and Poison in 1987, the year I (barely) graduated Marathon High school. The thought of going into the military crossed my mind but after talking with my brother, we both agreed that I didn't take authority too well and I didn't want a dishonorable discharge black mark that would haunt me for the rest of my life. Besides, my heart was set on becoming a rock star drummer like Tommy Lee or Steven Adler. I could drink, smoke, travel, meet chicks and make a shitload of money while having a blast playing the drums. Why settle for less? I wanted it all or nothing!! I was a natural drummer, without taking a lesson in my life other than listening and/or watching my favorite bands and drummers. I heard it was a long shot and the odds of making it were slim to none but I didn't care, I had to at least try. I remember saying to myself and others when I was in my late teens/early twenties. I'm either going to make it or become homeless and if I somehow DON'T "make it" and then become homeless I will just rob a bank. I will either get away with the money or get caught and then at least I would have a roof over my head along with the proverbial 3 hots and a cot. In hindsight and being currently homeless now, I would NEVER think of robbing a bank. So please don't call the cops or FBI or think that I would ever do such a foolish thing. I may be dumb but I aints STUPID!! To have your freedom taken away and having people tell you what to do, when and how, goes against the bylaws of my religion of rock n' roll. Hell, I only spent 11 days in Key West jail (first time in jail, ever, in 42 years) for open container and that SUCKED!! (Side note: the above mentioned arrest did not lead to jail time). O.K. that should be enough for you to simmer and chew on. I still have a lot of research to do....In the meantime, I am available for bar mitzvahs, baptisms and backyard barbecues...to name a few....;)