Veteran Keith Summerlin
It’s not every day a dad swears his son into the Florida Air National Guard. And it’s not often that one’s week-day job would put you amongst the many treacherous plants and dangerous animals in the Amazon Jungle. Yet, these are some of the unique highlights of Veteran Keith Summerlin’s life and times.
A Jacksonville native, raised in the Lake Forest area on the Northside, Summerlin likes to jokingly call himself a backwoods boy and an Elmer Fudd type like in those Looney Tunes cartoons, whose passions have centered around hunting, fishing and building any electronics that keep big-rigs moving.
With a typical young-kids outlook, the last thing he thought he’d be doing is following his dad, a lieutenant colonel at the time, into the Air National Guard, let alone retire with 20-years-service as a tech sergeant.
“My parents set high expectations of doing things well and right the first time, and my military training continued their high values with its attention to detail, focus on safety and the importance of checking and never assuming anything,” said Summerlin.
When Summerlin was attending Ed White High School, he also chose to learn marine mechanics at the Westside Skills Center. In their vocational program, he learned about electrical schematics, engines, transmissions and other motors. At 16, he began working for Ring Power Corporation, a caterpillar dealership, helping service big machines in their engine shop. Eventually, he would advance to full technician building engines, transmissions, hydraulic pumps, fuel systems and turbo chargers, and ended up working for them for 28 years.
“We worked around the world, with a variety of companies that needed heavy equipment to get their jobs done, as we were on-call to keep things running smoothly,” said Summerlin. Such was his mission to go to Guyana, South America, to work for Reynolds Aluminum and with Green Mine to extract an ore called bauxite that was used to make aluminum. This mission took place deep in uncharted jungles, just teeming with such dangerous animals as jaguars, giant anteaters, black caimans (similar to American alligators), iguanas as big as six feet long and the largest snake in the world, the green anaconda. The stuff of horror movies and nightmares.
“Green Mine would clean out the jungle vegetation and mine for bauxite while we kept the huge mining equipment continuously functioning,” said Summerlin. “Here we were maintaining engines out with monkeys and iguanas running amok and amidst lots of parrot chatter.” When at their make-shift trailer town and factory, this fisherman marveled at the huge variety of fish, especially getting to see the locals catch piranha. Looking like a brim with teeth to him, seeing, touching and tasting piranha was an experience.
This trip also opened Summerlin’s eyes to real poverty and renewed his gratitude for all he has as an American. “People were living in make-shift hutches with no electricity or running water, and few sources to earn a living to have just have enough to eat,” said Summerlin. “At our monthly safety meetings, if nobody got hurt, the local workers’ prize was a roll of toilet paper, as there was no toilet paper or even toilets, just holes in the ground.”
He also witnessed their resourcefulness, making jewelry out of gold-colored keys and using large filters as plant pots. One thing he will never forget is when locals caught a five-foot Iguana, somehow hog-tied him without getting injured, and then bar-bqueued him for dinner.
In addition to being a technician with Ring Power Corporation, Summerlin traveled to their various factory locations to visit the assembly lines for caterpillar machines and participate in training such as in Peoria, IL, North Carolina, Shady Grove, PA, and Manitowoc, WI.
All the while, Summerlin’s duties with the Guard were in logistics. Here he supported the aviation side for parts, marshaling equipment, making the most use of space available, and ensuring the aircraft was balanced and flight ready. Although he was never deployed overseas, he filled-in for those deployed, and recalls his most rewarding times were helping the public after several hurricanes in South and Central Florida.
Partnering with the Army National Guard, FEMA and the American Red Cross, when Hurricane Ivan ravaged Pensacola, his unit was also there, providing relief to the many affected by the storm. Handing out water, MREs, diapers, tarps for roofs and other necessities made Summerlin happy to be using some of what he’s trained for to help others. “I felt like what I learned was finally being used and it gave me great satisfaction to be helping our own and being appreciated,” said Summerlin.
Today, he is a partner/owner with his wife, Stacy, and their company, Summerlin Benefits Consulting, Inc., and is Senior Vice President for Business Development. Established in 2012, they are licensed in life, health and annuities insurance products as independent agents and specialize in retirement financial services. They take pride in helping keep their client’s money safe for the long-term through fixed index annuities. Their products have been well-received with now 500 clients.
“The key is vetting insurance companies for good products and services, and making sure clients are a good fit by helping them make the best decisions for their needs,” said Summerlin. He is also focusing on tax free retirement income through life insurance to ensure clients are additionally helped as they age.
“Of all I’ve seen and participated in during my life so far, I am the most proud of my family, both my immediate wife and kids, and that, when I retired from the Guard in 2014, my dad was still there to see it before he passed.”
Keith Summerlin. 904-891-4488
