University of Central Florida STARS Text Materials of Central Florida Central Florida Memory 2-20-2002 The Time of My Life, autobiography of Donald J. Mikler 2002 Donald J. Mickler Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-texts University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Essay is brought to you for free and open access by the Central Florida Memory at STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Text Materials of Central Florida by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Recommended Citation Mickler, Donald J., "The Time of My Life, autobiography of Donald J. Mikler 2002" (2002). Text Materials of Central Florida. 60. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cfm-texts/60 The Time of My Life By: Donald John Mikler I was born “ in the country near Oviedo, Florida”, 27 December 1931. My father was Michael Mikler who was born in Cleveland, Ohio 23 July 1906. Grandfather Joseph Mikler had immigrated to the Unitrd States in 1904 and settled in Cleveland. He got a job in a barrel factory, earning $1.25 a day. Six months later he sent for his wife in Czechslovakia. They bought a house in Cleveland and Grandmother Mikler ("Bobka", Slovak slang for grandmother) had two more children, Joseph and Katherine. In 1912 they joined a group of Slovaks who had bought land in Florida, sold their house in Cleveland, and moved to Florida. My mother was Mathilda Lamos who was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia 24 February 1908. Her parents had immigrated to the USA in about 1912 and settled in Chicago, then tried farming in Wisconsin, then moved back to Chicago.