David Hobson: “I rise today to remember our good friend Paul Gillmor. Just yesterday, the three of us rode together in from Columbus. I…”

“I rise today to remember our good friend Paul Gillmor. Just yesterday, the three of us rode together in from Columbus. I saw him in the airport, and I said, Hi, Gillmo. He said, Hi, Honorable Dave, and we started to talk, as we did often, because we've known each other a long time. And I said, What'd you do, and he told me about going to the floods. And then we got into boats and he told us about his boat and the times he was having on the lake with his children and Karen, and he was happy. Then we started to talk business, because Paul wasn't just a legislator. He was a businessman, too, and he was starting a bank in Florida. He says, You want to invest? I said, Well, we've been talking about that. So we talked about that for a while, and he was happy, and we were all happy. We were colleagues, friends. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Paul Gillmor. When Paul Gillmor was president of the senate, I lost an election and got appointed to the State senate that Paul Gillmor was president then for a few more weeks before we went in the minority, and he helped pick me. He picked me, and the newspaper read 'Loser Wins.' But Paul Gillmor set me on the way. I've never lost another election, thanks to Paul Gillmor. Paul Gillmor was always there, and I think his staff knows that. I met a young man then in the State senate named Mark Wellman who was working for Paul then. He works with Paul to this day. That's the kind of loyalty people had to Paul Gillmor.”