Mr. Everett Horn was born in Henderson County on October 6, 1910. He was the second child of Oscar and Lela Hamilton Horn.

Mr. Horn was born with severe myopia, an inherited malady, which left him handicapped for life. On account of this condition, his parents overly protected him and kept him out of school until he was 10 years old. They bought books, and his mother taught him at home until 1920. At that time, he began attending school at Antioch where his mother’s cousin, Mary Hamilton, had begun to teach.

In 1926, he transferred to Lexington High School. Due to personal problems, he had to drop out of school. However, in 1933 he was able to enroll again on a part time basis, and he finished high-school in 1936.

In 1941, he met his wife, Mary Elizabeth Williams. Mary was born in Madison County on May 8, 1915. Her parents were Ellis and Ida Gately Williams. Mary Elizabeth was the fifth in a family of nine children. Mary went to Spring Creek School and graduated in 1935.

They earned their fortune buying and selling real estate in Alaska. In the 1960’s they retired and settled in Texas.

On a visit back home, Mr. Horn learned that the local public library was having severe financial difficulty. Mr. Horn decided to help by setting up an irrevocable trust for the library in the amount of $400,000. The library would draw the interest from this money each year to help with operations. In addition to this money, Mr. & Mrs. Horn also gave a gift of $100,000 to the building fund when the library relocated.

Because of the generosity of these two kind people, the public library in Lexington was able to survive.

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