The Ancient Mariner
Dublin Core
Title
The Ancient Mariner
Alternative Title
Mariner Bank Statue
Subject
Veterans--Florida
Description
A statue known as "The Mariner", which was erected in 1978 by Earl J. LaPan (1908-1996). The fourteen-foot statue was created for the Mariner Bank in 1978, who paid $18,000 for it. When the bank closed, the statue was loaded by crane and moved to Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach, Florida, in 1983. The Mariner was built in tribute to Jerry Thomas, who founded Mariner Bank in 1962. Thomas’s son, Ken, claimed his father had been the model.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on August 24, 1908, Earl J. LaPan was an accomplished artist, who is credited for creating over 300 murals depicting tropical scenes. Beginning his career as an artist in New Jersey, Earl LaPan moved to Florida sometime around 1933. He was drafted into the United States Army Air Corps on October 29, 1943. After World War II, LaPan moved to Miami, Florida, where he resumed his work as an artist. LaPan died in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 19, 1996, at the age of eighty-seven. He is buried at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.
In 2017, the University of Central Florida was one of three universities selected to launch the National Cemetery Administration’s Veterans Legacy Program Project. The program engaged a team of scholars to make the life stories of veterans buried in the Florida National Cemetery available to the public. The project engages UCF students in research and writing and fosters collaboration between students, faculty and local Central Florida schools to produce interactive curriculum for k-12 students. The corresponding website exhibit uses RICHES Mosaic Interface to create a digital archive of related data. The public can use the project-developed augmented-reality app at more than 100 gravesites at the Florida National Cemetery, where they can access the UCF student-authored biographies of veterans.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, on August 24, 1908, Earl J. LaPan was an accomplished artist, who is credited for creating over 300 murals depicting tropical scenes. Beginning his career as an artist in New Jersey, Earl LaPan moved to Florida sometime around 1933. He was drafted into the United States Army Air Corps on October 29, 1943. After World War II, LaPan moved to Miami, Florida, where he resumed his work as an artist. LaPan died in Palm Beach, Florida, on February 19, 1996, at the age of eighty-seven. He is buried at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.
In 2017, the University of Central Florida was one of three universities selected to launch the National Cemetery Administration’s Veterans Legacy Program Project. The program engaged a team of scholars to make the life stories of veterans buried in the Florida National Cemetery available to the public. The project engages UCF students in research and writing and fosters collaboration between students, faculty and local Central Florida schools to produce interactive curriculum for k-12 students. The corresponding website exhibit uses RICHES Mosaic Interface to create a digital archive of related data. The public can use the project-developed augmented-reality app at more than 100 gravesites at the Florida National Cemetery, where they can access the UCF student-authored biographies of veterans.
Creator
Source
Digital reproduction of original color photograph.
Publisher
Date Created
2012-05-17
Is Part Of
Format
image/jpg
Extent
461 KB
Medium
1 color photograph
Language
eng
Type
Still Image
Coverage
Phil Foster Park, Riviera Beach, Florida
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Originally created and published by The Palm Beach County.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by The Palm Beach Post and is provided here by RICHES for educational purposes only.
Curator
Connolly, Lehman
Cravero, Geoffrey
Source Repository
External Reference
Abney, Barb. "VA Selects UCF Historians to Archive Stories of Deceased Veterans Veterans." UCF Today, March 13, 2017. Accessed August 9, 2017. https://today.ucf.edu/va-selects-ucf-historians-archive-stories-deceased-veterans/.
Collection
Citation
Palm Beach County, “The Ancient Mariner,” RICHES, accessed May 29, 2024, https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/items/show/10211.