Hmmm..One of H. Lee Brown's favorite songs. A Love To Call Mine, by Johnny Taylor. This song says a lot about the man. If you really knew H. Lee..the REAL H. Lee...He was really a big mushball. And I mean this in a GOOD way. In his own way he spent his entire adulthood lookin' for a love to call his. When he finally found one, he couldn't hang on to it. In this way, he was his own worst enemy.
Nothin' he liked better than havin' a pretty woman on his arm. With fancy cars, a beautiful smile and the gift of gab the pretty ladies were always waitin' in line to be the next one to get his attention. His presence as the proprietor of several successful beach clubs didn't hurt, either. The ladies were always close by just to get a photo with him.
H. Lee Brown didn't always have the "good life". Raised without the finer things he struggled as a young man to become the man he finally became. He struggled through not having a pair of decent shoes to wear to his high school prom and had to borrow some from a friend. He struggled through addiction...and he won. He lost some very important years due to his alcoholism and he'd be the first to tell you how God, some special people and AA saved his life. He struggled through times of not knowing where his next dime would come from. He struggled through many loves that he thought would make him whole. To really know H. Lee you HAD to know his past.
If you were lucky enough to spend some quality time with this man you would get to know where he came from and what he was all about. He was a great story and a sad story...all at the same time. He could rant and rave and talk about someone like a dog...and the next thing you know his eyes would be filled with big crocodile tears because that person was going through a hard time...and reach out to help them any way he could.
We had our ups and downs...I've screamed at him as much as he screamed at me. But, we always stayed friends. One of the hardest things in our friendship was understanding that to make one person happy he had to pretend to turn his back on someone else. But I understood. We still had our private talks and he still called me friend. We still hugged and occasionally cried together over things we couldn't do a darn thing about. To most he represented a strong, powerful, icon in Ocean Drive and to a very few he represented a shy man who NEEDED to be recognized and loved. The real H. Lee Brown was hidden behind all of the beautiful clothes, jewelry, cars and women that he felt necessary to show his worth.
On many occasions this OD giant would call me when invited to a social event and ask me to wait for him so he wouldn't have to walk in alone. Seeming larger than life and extremely confident to those that only knew him casually he was really still that young man that dreamed of someday being "somebody". He still didn't have the confidence to walk into a group of people that he admired, or envied, without a hand to hold and get the conversation started. But give him a microphone and he was totally in charge and oozed of self-confidence. Sometimes too much! LOL.
H. Lee LOVED this painting given to him by Jeanie Plyler. It always reminded him of where he came from. He never forgot...and some of it he never overcame. This mailbox represents Harry Lee Brown. He had a dream and he left us still trying to fulfill that dream. To most he seemed to have met his dream, but to those that knew him well he was still looking for the life and acceptance that he thought would make him complete.
To know Harry Lee Brown, you needed to go fishing with him, where he could let his guard down and be comfortable. You needed to go on a road trip and hear the stories about his youth along the way. You needed to sit in private with him and let him tell you where he felt he had gone wrong along the way and hear him talk and cry about the father he wanted to be and knew he wasn't. He always felt like it was too late to make some of his past RIGHT. Being with H. Lee Brown when nobody else was around and with someone who didn't expect him to be Mr. Big was a great thing. He was a good man. He was a successful man. He was a caring man. But he still wanted to be Mr. Big Wheel. And he was truly in his element when rubbing shoulders with the local politicians, driving in the local parades and sometimes just walkin' down Main Street.
I'll never forget the day H. Lee came by my house and found out I didn't have air conditioning. My HVAC unit had gone out the year before and I'd gone through the winter with no heat and the summer was here and my house was hot as hades. He was mad as fire that I hadn't let him know about it and let him help. I told him I was fine and I had some funds coming in a couple of weeks. He left and returned with a wad of hundred dollar bills and said "You call somebody right now and get a system put in tomorrow. Take your time and don't worry about paying me back. I trust you". Had it done the next day and about 3 days later my funds came in. My first stop was to the bank for cash and my second stop was to see H. Lee. He tried his best not to take it, saying that he would wait until I got back on my feet. He finally took the money and we were square. We sat down and laughed and talked about back in the day when it wasn't a bad thing not to have air conditioning. He didn't want anyone to know what he'd done. He didn't want a BIG thank you. He was just helping a friend. And a friend he was.
Losing this friend so quickly and the way he had to pass is really hard to accept. I'm sorry that he missed the presence of his family and close friends towards the end. For whatever reason, God chose to take him much too quickly. Knowing H. Lee Brown he still had a lot to do and a lot to say. He still had some things to forgive and be forgiven for. But in the end all is right. He is resting in peace and I'm sure he'd love for all of us to find peace in having known him. But, let's not forget, he DID enjoy causing a few ruffles along the way. I can smile at the ruffles and hope that his memory will sail on smoothly.
Harry Lee was really a good 'ol boy....With a hard shell and a soft heart.
Whew...this was tough. I need to dance...Only wish the ODP was open and I could run down there and dance it off. Hope to do that REAL soon...
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