Everett Leavins was born in 1904 on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. He grew up in the Bon Secour area near Mobile, Alabama. Leavins had very little formal education. When he left home after a quarrel with his father, he joined the U.S. Army briefly from 1923-1926. He re-enlisted in June 1928 and was stationed in the 6th Cavalry at Fort Oglethorpe in Tennessee until June 1931. Leavins was then transferred to Luke Field, an airbase at Pearl Harbor in the Territory of Hawaii, where he served until 1938 as an aircraft mechanic. After his enlistment ended, Leavins continued to serve as a civilian aircraft mechanic with the U.S. Air Force until 1956. Most of that time was spent in Hawaii. Leavins transferred to California in the early 1950s where he died in 1962. During his adult life, Leavins was an avid amateur photographer and collector of photographs. His collection of photographs donated by his nephew focuses mainly on military life in the 1920s and 1930s.