The Fifteen Minute Mayor

Speed Menefee, Naples First Mayor, 1925
  In 1925 Naples was incorporated as a city, and of immediate importance was the selection of a mayor. Everyone agreed that no one was more qualified than Speed Menefee. After all, he had been the official greeter and the town's most fascinating character since his arrival in 1905. Speed really didn't want the responsibilities required of the mayor but was willing to be sworn in and to serve for about 15 minutes. After the appropriate ceremonies and an acceptance speech, he resigned and Judge E.G. Wilkerson took over the office and served for several years.

Speed had served in the Spanish American War and the general consensus was that he came to Naples to recover from his war experiences. Others say that Speed was a "remittance offspring": a member of a prominent family,who paid him a regular stipend to remain away from home.

He was the scion of a prominent Kentucky family, and, along with being the first mayor of Naples he was the most colorful and eccentric person ever to grace the Naples scene.

Speed Menefee's "Grandma"


His house on stilts was on the beach at 17th Avenue South where he and his "grandma" held forth every evening at cocktail time. "Grandma" turned out to be a carved coconut on the bar in Speed's home, and make no bones about it, "Grandma" required frequent toasts. On my first visit, I was introduced to her and told to toast her by "kissin' Miss Betsy," a coconut shell filled with Kentucky bourbon.

Although there were no fancy hors d'oeuvres there was no lack of outrageous stories from Speed, told with such gusto and fervor that it was hard not to believe them. My favorite had to do with the rattlesnake who attacked the tires on his model-T Ford. The snake embedded its teeth in a tire and the air from the tire inflated the snake until he came right out of his skin.

Speed's house was decorated with what appeared to be castoffs from a hurricane-ravaged island hut. On the porch were several battered Peel chairs that must have come from China with the first homebound missionaries. Inside were yellowed prints, beaded portieres, rattan lampshades, turtle shells, walrus teeth, wax flowers, manatee skulls, Indian rugs and diamondback rattlesnake backbones. The faded rose-colored pillows thrown around the weather-beaten sofa were the only touch of civility in this trashand treasure trove.

No one was ever sure of Speed's exact age. In 1957, he confessed to being 75, but rumor had it that he was at least 80 and holding. I had a daily radio show on WNOG and arranged for Florence Halderman Price, Lindsey Crayton and Grace Moestetter to come on the show and reminisce about Speed on his birthday. We taped the program, which was then aired during Speeds's birthday party.

Speed never married and claimed to spend most of his time avoiding the advances of eager ladies who found his charms irresistible.

In spite of his idiosyncrasies Speed Menefee was the perfect Southern gentleman. He lived in Naples for more than half a century, and anyone who knew him was privileged to share his stories, his humor, his gentle courtliness, frivolous nature and his zany philosophy that life was a bowl of cherries. And for Speed, there just didn't seem to be any pits.
  Note: From When Peacocks were Roasted and Mullet was Fried (pp. 20-21), by Doris Reynolds, 1993, Naples, FL: Enterprise Publishing, A Division of D. Reynolds Enterprises, Inc. Copyright 1993 by Enterprise Publishing. Reprinted with permission of the author.

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