 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
The need for speed
By LOGAN D. MABE, Times Staff Writer
NORTHDALE -- Manny Garcia is always on the run, logging three miles one day and maybe four the next. The new president of the Northdale Special Tax District spent years on the move until he found a home in Northdale. That's when he stopped moving and started running. "I've been running since 1975," Garcia said. "I do it for several reasons; stress reduction and for my health." Garcia was born July 4, 1953, in Havana, Cuba. It was only after his family immigrated to the United States when he was 8 years old Garcia realized his birthday was special. "I am a Yankee doodle dandy," he said and laughed. Garcia and his family fled their homeland after the rise of communism and Fidel Castro. "In 1961, we left on a two-week vacation visa with basically $5 and landed in a motel in Miami Beach," Garcia said. "There my dad contacted some people he knew from Sears (his father's employer in Cuba) here in the U.S. and we moved to Daytona Beach for four months." From there the Garcias moved to Panama, where the elder Garcia was a traveling auditor for Sears. Then, they lived in Mississippi and North Carolina before settling in Tampa in 1969. After graduating from the University of South Florida, Garcia followed in his father's footsteps and worked for Sears for 19 years. Since then, Garcia's career has been in health care marketing, most recently as a fundraiser with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Foundation. "I've been here 22 years now," Garcia said of Northdale, his adopted home. "When I first moved in here, we were the first ones on the street. I've seen Northdale grow. I've seen it mature as a subdivision." Garcia married his college sweetheart, Laida, after meeting her on the job at a Burdines store. "She thought I was the biggest playboy in town because she always saw me talking to other girls," Garcia said. "We started dating and have been together ever since, 27 years in December." Garcia's family includes 24-year-old Marcos and 12-year-old Katherine. It was Marcos who inspired Garcia to begin running. "I got my son into that when he was in the sixth-grade and I started running with him," Garcia said. And he's never stopped. Nor has he ever stopped working for the betterment of the neighborhood. A member of the tax district for 16 years, this is Garcia's second turn as president. "We all want to serve our community," Garcia said. "We all want to do something good, and what better way than where you live, where your children are growing." -- Logan D. Mabe can be reached at 269-5304 or at mabe@sptimes.com
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times |
