Before enrolling at Ranken, Everett spent four years in the Navy from 1964-1968. He used the GI Bill to attend Ranken and worked evenings while attending classes. When he graduated, he worked for Mac’s Plumbing and Heating in East St. Louis. While in East St. Louis, where he lived for twenty years, he also worked for the City of East St. Louis and the East St. Louis School District. He also taught HVAC at State Community College. Everett was in East St. Louis for 20 years and then moved back to Columbia, MO, his hometown. For much of his career, he was self-employed servicing and installing. Everett remembers some valuable lessons that he learned while a student at Ranken, “Ranken helped me tremendously. We had to follow rules and regulations, which I was used to from the Navy. Some people have a hard time with this, but this is what makes Ranken special. Ranken also taught us to treat people right and to do what is in the best interest of the customer. Some companies just want to install new equipment, but we learned to repair equipment so that we could save customers money.” Everett still works part-time.