“This print of the original painting was gifted to the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections by ex-POW Ed Hubbard, a survivor of the infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ and resident of Fort Walton Beach,” officials said.
Hubbard signed the print, “To the members of FSASE . . . GBU & GBA [God Bless You and God Bless America].”
The print originally hung in the Franklin County Elections Office when then-Supervisor Doris Shiver Gibbs was President of the Supervisor’s Association in 1989. From there it moved each year as the Presidency changed hands, visiting 28 different counties over 35 years.
The print previously hung in the Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Office twice – from 1998-99 when Pat Hollarn was President of the FSASE and again from 2018-19 while Paul Lux presided over the Association.
The print has travelled the length and breadth of the Sunshine State – inspiring voters as far west as Escambia County and as far south as Collier County. Five counties have hosted the print twice, but Sarasota County is the only office to display the print three times.
The print hung in Hillsborough County during the now-infamous 2000 election, but was home in Okaloosa for the historic triple-statewide recount in 2018 under President Lux. The print was still travelling when the FSASE became the FSE as the Association changed names.
The print will no longer pass from office to office and has been returned to Okaloosa County. It now hangs once again in the Crestview office of the Supervisor of Elections.
The office is in the Brackin Building at 302 N. Wilson St.
