Cox's Trailer Court

Within the first few days of April 1960 our 1953 8’ x 35’ Champion mobile home arrived from Norfolk, VA at Cox’s Trailer Court, 9842 103^rd St Jacksonville, FL.  The court, owned by Les and Helen Cox, was under construction at the time.  I thought it would be quieter, with less traffic, at the rear of the court so asked if I could park my home on a back corner.  As those spots were not yet developed Les told me I could have one if I wanted to develop it myself.  He would put up the materials and money if I wanted to do the labor.  So I developed my own lot on the back corner.  Looking at the sky view of the park a number 1 can be noted in the street in front of the spot.  We lived on that lot for a year or more.

I believe it was the spring of 1961 when our good friends Kent and Ellie Eshelman moved to a different court closer to Jacksonville.  We decided to move our home to the spot they left which was much closer to the front of Cox’s court.  During all of this time I worked part time for Les doing odd jobs around the court.  A number 2 is in front of this spot.

In early 1962 we traded our Champion home for a new 10’ X 50’ Peerless mobile home.  We had it placed on the roadside lot across the driveway from Les’ house.  A number 3 is in the driveway designating this spot.  Late that year I decided I was going to leave the Navy so I sold the home to a friend named Hepler.  Nora packed up and went to New York to stay with her parents for three months or so until my discharge date.

Only a month or so later I changed my mind, and decided to re-enlist in the Navy for another four years.  With that idea also came the thought of buying yet another new mobile home, the second in that same year.  So we bought a Pacemaker 10’ X 50’ home and placed it where the number 4 is in the street.  To sum it up we lived in that court over three years, in three mobile homes, on four lots.

In the first spot we lived in Stan and Donna Norton lived beside us.  While yet living on that same spot our good friends Charlie and Barbara Norton bought a Frontier mobile home and moved in a few spots up the street.

While living there we survived Hurricane Donna in 1960.  It holds the record yet today for sustained winds of 115 or more for nine days straight from September second through September tenth.  On the night of September 10/11, 1960 I chose to remain in our mobile home although many warnings suggested everyone go to secure quarters.  At 22 years of age I thought I’d seen everything so why worry about some wind and rain.  During the night the winds from the south were pushing our home’s wall in several inches.  I opened all windows in the home to relieve pressure on the walls, and allowed the rain to blow in as it would.  Horrendous noises were present all night long.  Needless to say we got no sleep.  On the morning of September 11, 1960 we were able to look at near devastation through the part of the trailer park we could see.  I drove our 1953 Ford to Cecil Field in conditions almost unbelievable, but we did arrive there.  Within an hour of our arrival Donna had passed by and we returned home shortly thereafter.