Aldrich Lynn Everett

Aldrich Lynn Everett was born July 6, 1941, in Webster, Florida, to Willie James and Willie Mae (Mitchell) Everett. Aldrich aka “Al” has 6 sisters and 6 brothers with him being the eighth born of thirteen children. Al attended Mills High Elementary for both primary and secondary education. At the age of 8 years Al and his brothers would wake in the early morning hours at daybreak to work on the farm prior to attending school. Al sometimes walked, rode horses, rode the tractor, or caught the school bus to school. After school Al would walk, ride a horse, ride the tractor, or catch the bus to work on the farm with his father Willie James Everett. Once Al arrived on the farm he would work with the cattle (i.e.: spraying, feeding, lassoing, branding or share taking) planting, transplanting, stripping cane, irrigating the plants or whatever needed to be done.

After working on the farm with his father, Al went to basketball practice and homework would be done late at night. Al grew up in a family of people that trained horses. Al’s father had trailers that pulled behind the trucks and Al was responsible for transporting the livestock for other people who didn’t have transportation to get their cattle to the sale barn. Al also attended to cattle on ranches where people could not or did not know how to take care of the cattle. All of this led to Al’s passion of working with cows and horses. This path led Al to become a ranch owner and cowboy until this day.

At 18 years old, Al was a Foreman of Little River Ranch in Pasco County in Dade City, Fl. As a foreman of the ranch Al branded, castrated, and performed duties of the veterinarians of all dominions. Al was a very highly skilled and experienced animal handler; and his degree of knowledge secured his position. The ranch owner was W.M. Larkins, and that ranch still exists today. In 1958-1959 Al and his brothers put on the first all black rodeo on State Road 200 in Hernando County. The property owners where the rodeo was held was owned by The Bellamy Brothers. Al and his brother Thomas and other friends were riders in the rodeo while his brother Lucious performed as the rodeo clown. They also had a job catching cattle off 20,000 acres in Hernando County that borders the Withchoochee River. In 1964, Al quit the ranch and attended Johnson Junior College in Leesburg, FL for two years.

When the schools were integrated, the name of Johnson Junior College was changed to Lake Sumter Community College. Al’s major was Physical Education. After attending Johnson Junior college, Al was drafted into the United States Army in 1966. Al was in the Army for two years. Al took basic training in Fort Bennett, Georgia. Al took AIT at Port Odd, California and he was a member of the 101st Airborne Division ETS out of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Al also attended Jones Business College for one year and he attended Indian River Community College (IRCC) for one year (both located) in Fort Pierce, FL.

In 1970, Al started Everett Brother’s Harvesting where he bought and sold fruit and vegetables that he purchased from other companies. With the proceeds made from Everett Brother’s Harvesting, Al was able to expand his farm by buying and selling cattle from his ranch. This brought Al back to his roots of breaking in and training horses and attending to his cattle. After all the things Al wanted to be in life, Al wanted to be a cowboy/ranch owner and work with his horses and cows. Being a cowboy and an owner of a ranch is what Al is most proud of and what Al wanted to be even as a child, and he reached his goal. Al’s words of wisdom to anyone wanted to be a cowboy, “make sure that you love animals and that it makes you happy, don’t just do it for the money. Be able to give others good advice and show them the ropes to make them better at working with the animals, nursing them back to health and being of assistance to the life of the animals that you’ll be working with.”


All Rights Reserved