Hemingway family to involve itself in service members, veterans philanthropy in Naples
Andrew AtkinsYears after the Hemingway family departed Naples, it plans on returning in another form: philanthropy for military service members and veterans.
Ernest Hemingway’s granddaughter, Mina Hemingway, owned Mina Hemingway’s Florida Book Store in Naples for a number of years before relocating to Colorado earlier in the decade with her son (who is also Ernest Hemingway’s great-grandson) Patrick Hemingway Adams. Now that Adams is getting involved in some of the family’s business ventures, he’s noticed a void he intends to fill by spearheading philanthropy for veterans in Southwest Florida.
“Naples is kind of a hometown for me,” he said. Beyond that, Adams has appreciated the sense of community in Naples and the recognition of his ancestor’s name.
“What I’m finding is that the Hemingway interest really lives on in south Florida,” he said. “That’s where the name has the most currency.”
The first organization Adams is involving the Hemingway family with is the nonprofit Naples Take a Soldier Fishing. The event, now in its 11th year, serves active duty military members with a hotel stay, entertainment and a fishing tournament.
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Co-founder Steve Loyd said the event gets the military members’ minds off their everyday duties.
“They’re able to forget about the craziness they’re subjected to, if you will,” Loyd said.
According to the Naples Take a Soldier Fishing website, Ernest Hemingway Saltwater Fly Fishing collection is an event sponsor.
The family’s involvement will bolster the attention and awareness the event receives, Loyd said.
“When you say Hemingway, everyone knows who that is,” he said. “It helps us — the Hemingway name obviously speaks to itself.”
Adams said he’s happy to get the family involved in an organization like Loyd’s considering his great-grandfather’s involvement as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I and as a journalist during the Spanish Civil War.
Adams pointed to several of Hemingway’s problems later in life — Hemingway eventually died by suicide at 61 — as potential consequences of his time spent in military conflicts and said he wants to use the family name to benefit and assist service members, veterans and their families.
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“We’re still seeing the same effects. People are still seeing these horrible things. Part of why I think now is the right time to start involving this family in this cause is it’s less taboo,” Adams said.
The time, too, is especially right for the family now that it is generations removed from some of Hemingway’s controversies, Adams said.
“It wasn’t time to have this conversation about Ernest until now,” he said. “We have nothing but undiluted legacy to interpret in what we want to do with it moving forward as descendants.”
Andrew Atkins is a Features Reporter with the Naples Daily News. Contact him via email at andrew.atkins@naplesnews.com or on Twitter at @andrewjatkins.
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