Hatcher & Saddler Funeral Home

W. S. Everett

December 7, 1928     ~     June 6, 2019

After ninety good years, Wilson Spencer “W.S.” Everett ended his earthly journey at his home on his childhood farm in Glasgow, Kentucky and entered heaven on June 6, 2019.

W.S. was born in Hiseville, Kentucky to Wilson Everett and Lelia Mae Spencer Everett on December 7, 1928. As a young man he was known to pull more than a few pranks, several on his older sister Ora Ola, whom he nicknamed Bobbye as a toddler. (He has his own ideas from the beginning!) W.S. was a storyteller, and over the years he told his children and grandchildren countless stories about growing up in rural Barren County during the years of the Great Depression, when most everyone in the county was cash poor but rich in relationships with family and friends. W.S. loved the Boy Scouts, especially the outdoors activities and jamborees. He and Jimmy Simmons forged a life-long friendship through the Scouts. He never forgot the moment he learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor on his thirteenth birthday, and was a true patriot all of his life.

After graduating from Hiseville High School in the spring of 1947, W.S. joined the Kentucky National Guard and then the U.S. Army. He was deployed during the Korean War and spent his tour of duty north of the 38^th Parallel on a fire direction crew. He returned to Glasgow in the spring of 1952 and married Ora Lavinia Kidd, who had captured his eye and heart when he first saw her on the steps of Hiseville High her freshman year. They raised their four children in Normal, Illinois where W.S. worked for over thirty years as a manufacturing engineer at General Electric, and was in regular tussles with the union stewards as the result of his hustle and do-it-yourself tendencies that were often characterized as taking work from union members. When W.S. and Lavinia started their family, money was tight; W.S. often worked several jobs plus overtime to allow his children to spend their days at home with their mother, for which they will be forever grateful.

Just after their nest emptied, Lavinia unexpectedly passed away in her sleep in 1988. Even during that time of grief, W.S.’s faith in Jesus Christ remained steadfast, and he followed his Lord devoutly through the end of his days. In 1999 W.S. returned to his old Kentucky home. For the past twenty years, W.S. has been very involved with the Glasgow chapter of the Disabled American Veterans and regularly participated in military funerals as part of the Chapter 20 Color Guard. He spoke about patriotism and the Korean War to many school children in the area, often at the urging of his nephew’s wife, Tina Sharp. He designed the Glasgow-Barren County Veterans Wall of Honor and the Hiseville Veterans Memorial, and was instrumental in bringing those two memorials to completion. The last time he stepped out of his house was to drive himself to the Wall of Honor on May 15 to install the final veteran’s tile on the Wall.

In addition to his parents and wife of 37 years, W.S. was preceded in death by his sister and brother-in-law Ora Ola (Bobbye) and Edward Parsley, his nephew Stephen Parsley and niece Suzanne Parsley, and his great grandson Francis Ogden. He is survived and will be greatly missed by his four children: Wendy (Dennis) Ogden of Des Moines, Iowa; David (Rella) Everett of Glasgow, Richard (Jenny) Everett of Glasgow, and Janet (Joe) Gonzales of Bolingbrook, Illinois; nine grandchildren; and four great grandchildren.

The family is very grateful for the kind and capable care provided to W.S. in his home during the last six weeks by Sheila Atwell, his hospice nurse.

A visitation will be held at Hatcher and Saddler Funeral Home in Glasgow on Friday, June 14, 2019, from 4:00-8:00 PM; the funeral service will be held at Coral Hill Baptist Church in Glasgow on Saturday, June 15 at 10:00 AM with visitation beginning at 9:00 AM. Burial with military honors will follow immediately afterward in the Hiseville Cemetery.