This morning, I received the sad news that my very good friend and mentor, Doug Little, has passed away. Doug lost his long battle with several serious health issues, and the world is a drearier place without him. 

I met Doug and his late wife, Jeanne, somewhere around 2010, when I took my first voyage aboard Captain Jeanne’s prized ecotour boat, the Naiad. I enjoyed that first tour so much, I started going out on their boat regularly.  Both Jeanne and Doug were extremely knowledgeable about the wildlife and habitat along the St. Johns, and their tours were fantastic. In fact, their lives were so full of interesting adventures, I finally decided to use the two of them as inspiration for my characters in my second book, Swamp Ghosts. (Maggie Devlin is an ecotour boat captain, and Gunnar Wolfe is a talented nature photographer, just as Doug was.)

After writing the book, I took a copy to the Littles, and Doug instantly invited me to do a Meet the Author Tour aboard the Naiad. From that point on, Doug  mentored me in more ways than I can count, including selling my books from his ticket window at the boat launch.

Along the way, Doug also introduced me to the good folks at DeBary Hall Historic Manor, where I started giving talks on writing and self-publishing. He followed that with an introduction to the equally good folks at Enterprise Museum, with the same results. Over time, my talks began to focus on central Florida wildlife, and I ended up presenting nature talks exclusively, one at each venue every month, and all thanks to Doug’s introductions. I continued giving 24 talks a year until my health issues slowed me down in 2020, but I  hope I’ll be able to get back to that routine soon. 

Doug was an incredibly interesting guy, with so many irons in the fire, it fairly boggled my mind. He’d been in the TV industry years prior to coming to Florida, and was always checking out new investments and ideas. And he was supportive of all his friends, no matter what their endeavors included.

I will never forget the unwavering encouragement and friendship I received from Doug and Jeanne, so I’m not kidding when I say they were my mentors as well as my very good friends for well over ten years. 

I miss them both terribly.