Faith, friendship, community, and love are the four pillars that make up the Silver Spurs Riding Club. All of the volunteers have not only a deep love for their community and the sport of rodeo but also one another. Some through friendships and others through marriage. Larry and Sally Evers have been married for 50 years and have spent more than 30 years of marriage together as Silver Spurs members. On this edition of the Heritage Series, Larry and Sally share their perspective on married life, their favorite memories over the years of being volunteers of the Silver Spurs Riding Club, and what the Silver Spurs Rodeo means to them.

While this may seem like something written out of a Nicholas Sparks novel, Larry and Sally's relationship started in school. Specifically, in the "boringest" history class of their life.

"Larry and I actually met during our junior year at Osceola High School, but we didn't actually start dating until our senior year of high school." Sally reflected.

"When we met, we met in history class, and it was the most boringest class I've ever been in. To entertain myself, I colored her hair with a pen or tied it in knots." Larry laughed.

While these pranks might have worn some people down, Larry's charm soon won him a date, and little did he know, the love of his life. After graduating from high school, Larry went back to Georgia to study at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College and finished his degree in Forestry at the University of Georgia. Meanwhile, Sally began working for an insurance company in Orlando.

For the next three years, the two wrote letters to one another daily and anticipated their phone calls twice a week for a whole. three. minutes. Back in those days, there was no such thing as unlimited minutes. Right before Larry graduated from college, Larry and Sally got married on September 2nd, 1967. They lived in Athens, Georgia for a few years, staying put and enjoying married life while Larry finished school. In 1972, Larry and Sally moved back to Kissimmee, Florida to help Larry's father and mother run his family's sawmill business "temporarily." Forty-six years later, they're both still working there today.

Befriending other Silver Spurs volunteers, Larry and Sally started to volunteer with the Silver Spurs Riding Club around the mid-1980s."We wanted to join the Silver Spurs Club because a lot of our friends were in there. One of my first jobs as a Silver Spurs volunteer was we had to rebuild the arena, and it was dead. cold. winter. I remembered we showed up and it was freezing. I thought, 'Surely we won't work tonight?' And we did! We were there until about midnight, resetting posts and getting it ready for the February rodeo." Larry laughed.

But through all the freezing winter and sweltering summer rodeos, Larry and Sally volunteered with their friends in the Silver Spurs Riding Club for more than 30 years, while raising a family, and enjoying some of the best years of their life.

"One of the most important things about being married is being married to your best friend. Larry has always been there to support me in anything I wanted to do.  Some of my favorite memories are from the old arena, where I worked in souvenirs, and we would send our kids to the Osceola County Fair [during the February rodeo], and they would bring back strawberry shortcakes and apple dumplings for us to eat while we were working. It was just a wonderful time for them to play and feel important at the same time." Sally reflected.

Raising their kids, Kimberly and Kelley, throughout their volunteering with the Silver Spurs Rodeo, Larry and Sally are happy that they get to see their four grandchildren also grow up with the Silver Spurs Rodeo.

While working at the family sawmill a majority of the year, Larry and Sally continue to volunteer their time when the Silver Spurs Rodeo comes to town. In fact, you can see Sally as soon as you walk in the doors of the Silver Spurs Arena as she'll be one of the ushers at the 141st Silver Spurs Rodeo this June 1st and 2nd. Make sure to say, 'Hello' when you see her!