Our November Member Spotlight is Sunshine Bimmers Club Member, Michael Calkins who is 72 years young. Mike has been married to his partner of almost 20 years, Keith Proud since July 2014, when same-sex marriage finally became legal. He has 2 children, 6 grandchildren and is soon to have his first great-granddaughter.

Mike retired in 2011, but he has been quite the Entrepreneur. He owned a chimney sweep business, 2 restaurants & a catering business. Most of his career was in the trucking industry as Director of Transportation for two different foodservice distributors. His last position was at the Council of Aging running the Meals on Wheels in Daytona Beach & Ormond Beach.

He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to Florida 1982.
His first BMW was a 1999 Z3 Roadster, but he has owned ten in total. He currently has a 2007 M Roadster with 23K miles (shown below) as well as a 2014 535d with the M Sport Package. Vroom! Vroom!

Mike joined Sunshine Bimmers in 1999 and attended M driving school at the BMW Performance Driving School in Greer, South Carolina and is an avid clock collector with over 80 total in his vast collection which includes a pre-Civil War, 30 hour OG.

Don has been a member of the club since July 2010 and lives in Orlando with his wife Linda who is also a native Floridian, born in Tampa. Don recently celebrated a milestone birthday. Happy belated birthday, Don!

Don serves as the Director of Engineering, Programs, Quality at L3 Technologies Security & Detection Systems. They make the body scanners at the airport checkpoints, the X-ray machines that scan your checked luggage, handheld mine & IED detectors, handheld sense through the wall radars.

His 1st BMW was a 1996 E36 328i Cabrio and his current BMW is a 2006 Z4 E85 3.0si Roadster and a 2011 E88 128i Cabrio. Don has owned four BMW’s over the years and has taken the opportunity to test them out at several track events (Daytona School Course (6x) and full IMSA course (4x), Sebring Club Course (2x) and 12 Hour course (4x), autocross with SCCA, PCA, BMWCCA, FAST, Martin Sports Car Club)!

In his “spare” time, if he isn’t doing something related to his BMW’s, Don likes to run and his Personal Motto is “Be outstanding in what you attempt”!

This is a photo of one of Don’s BMW’s and if you check the photos on our Social Media pages, you’ll see him at a few of our Teutonic Tuesdays! (Speaking of Social Media, have you asked to be included in the official Sunshine Bimmers FB group?)

Like many Americans who have a chance to live aboard, Joseph and his wife Katherine came in contact with new and interesting experiences. In the early 1980s, they were newlyweds living in Germany, discovering European traveling, culture, food, and of course BMWs. There, Joseph purchased his first BMW, an E12 525, it was a used vehicle already a few years old.

They put a lot of miles (kilometers) on the 525 as they traveled extensively on the autobahns and back roads of Germany and the surrounding countries. Today, Joseph owns an E88 2011 128i convertible with a manual transmission, an F30 2013 328i, and yes, a 2014 BMW bicycle.

Joseph’s track experiences have been at the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina for the 1-day M School and the more advanced 2-day M School. In addition, he has been a member of the chapter since 2011, his hobbies include traveling, reading, fitness, and classical music. Joseph works in software development and his personal motto is “Take nothing for granted”. Below is a photo of Joseph and his lovely bride Katherine.

In an effort to get to know each other a little better, Sunshine Bimmers have added a new feature to their newsletter, website and social media, a monthly Members Spotlight. Well guess who was picked to be the first in this series, I am honored to say it is I.

My name Nick Katona and I am the Social Media Director and Webmaster Sunshine Bimmers:

Nick Katona is 58 years old, the eldest of 4 children and happily married to his wife Jennifer since 1999. They met on the internet when all there was, was AOL it was the dawn of the internet age.

He is the President of Melodic Revolution Records an independent record label based in Orlando, Fla. Melodic Revolution Records is celebrating its 10th Anniversary. Nick is also a part-time internet DJ and produces 3 shows a week on House of Prog.

When asked about his birthplace Nick said, “I really don’t remember that day, I was very young, but I am told I was born Hammond Indiana, where my mother and the soon to be me, were visiting relatives before heading back home to California.”

Nicks 1st BMW was a black 1998 328i (E36) with 5-speed manual transmission & dove gray interior. His current BMW is a white 2017 330i (F30) with a manual 6-speed manual transmission. Nick and Jennifer also own a 2007 (E85) 3.0si Z4 Roadster.

Over the past 16 years, Nick has owned a total of seven BMW’s, each purchased from Fields BMW in Winter Park and all through the same salesman, Steve Tolar.

Nick has not been to a BMW track event yet, but he plans to change that soon and he has been a Sunshine Bimmers Member since 2002.

His hobbies (other than BMW’s) are spending time with his wife Jennifer, traveling, discovering good food and collecting good music.

Nick’s Personal Motto’s are, “Pay it Forward” and “It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama and music, and to the excitement of great science that we open to them the possibilities that lie within the human spirit — enable them to see visions and dream dreams.”– Eric Anderson

The photo below is a photo of Nick with his beautiful bride, Jennifer.