Greg Evers remembered at funeral for public service, farming, love of people

An infectious smile, genuine love for people and the disarming way he called everyone "sugar" are among the things friends and family will remember about the late state Sen. Greg Evers.

More than 300 people on Wednesday filled the First Baptist Church of Milton to pay their respects to Evers, who was killed in an Aug. 21 single-vehicle car crash. He was 62.

"If everybody treated people the way Greg Evers treated people, our country and our communities would be a much better place to live and raise our children," said Marion Hammer, chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association in Florida, during the funeral. "You simply can't describe Greg Evers without everything sounding like an overused cliché. But that's who he really was, and who we all should hope to be."

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Evers was known for his strong support for gun rights during his time in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2010 and in the Florida Senate from 2010 to 2016. He became the subject of controversy when during his run for Congress in 2016 he raffled an AR-15 on his campaign's Facebook page. He never backed down.

Evers was remembered by other political leaders as an honest man who did what he thought was right. Several state political leaders attended the funeral, including two rivals for the Republican nomination for Florida governor in 2018, Sen. Jack Latvala and Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam.

Evers' involvement in politics began as an effort to support his fellow farmers in Northwest Florida, said the late lawmaker's friend, Gerald Edmondson, former director of the Okaloosa County Extension Office, who spoke at the funeral.

"I heard him say many times when asked his occupation, he would say, 'Just a farmer,'" Edmondson said. "He was proud to proclaim that because he lived and breathed being a farmer."

Evers grew up farming and his family operated the farming supply store called the Baker Farm Center.

Edmondson said Evers was always eager to adopt the latest farming technology and techniques, and he would always let the Extension Office test new types of crops on his land.

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Evers' biggest commercial success in farming was Akers of Strawberries, where families can come hand-pick strawberries, buy strawberry yogurt and "almost famous" strawberry shortcake.

"I was helping and teaching him when we started, but in later years Greg could teach me a lot of things about strawberries and he did," Edmondson said. "The thing that was important was that he had found his niche, and he was the best at it."

Evers was a man of faith, said Frank Lay, principal of L.E.A.D. Academy Classical School and former principal of Pace High School where he drew national media attention in 2010 for a federal court case over prayer in school.

"Greg Evers spoke about the Father and the Son," Lay said. "I was in many, many meetings with him, whether it be in Tallahassee or on our campus, church, whatever, Greg Evers was going to pray. He was going to talk to the Father and the Son, and because of that, today what a comfort it is for me as a friend and his family to know that he's resting high on that mountain."

Lay said Evers was called "Bull" as child. And Lay said the name fit.

"When he saw social injustice, family abuse, lack of patriotism, attacks on our constitutional rights and the abuse of religious freedom, they were all like red flags to him — boom — he was after it. He charged. He'd get on it," Lay said.,

Evers chaired the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. After his time in public office, he took on the role of chief of political affairs for South Palafox Group, where he spearheaded an effort to create affordable housing for ex-offenders in Pensacola.

He also led an effort to keep the 34-foot tall cross in Bayview Park earlier this year after a federal judge ordered it removed. Evers formed The Historic Preservation Society Inc., which offered to lease the land where the cross stands and thereby remove it from city ownership.

"He ran a strong race," Lay said. "He's passed the baton. It's time for us to pass the baton."

Evers' daughter, Stephanie Evers Barlow, read a verse from the Gospel of John, fighting back tears, and then recalled a recent conversation she had with her father about her two siblings.

"He said, 'Baby, I'm so proud of all of y'all,'" Barlow said. "And it was a long conversation, and he loved y'all more than words can say. I'm thankful for that."