Edna Pearce Lockett
A distinguished cattle rancher, an effective legislator and a pioneer for women, the late Edna Pearce Lockett was as comfortable on a ranch chatting with a Cracker cowboy as she was working the halls of the Legislature. Born in Fort Basinger, Fla., to a Central Florida pioneer family, she grew up on the family’s ranch near the Kissimmee River. Her days in ranching spanned from the last of the great cattle drives to the use as helicopters to spot stray cattle, an innovation she introduced. She was the third woman elected to the Florida House of Representatives, an officer in the Highlands County and Florida Cattlemen’s Association,s and founding board member of Highlands General Hospital. Lockett was a devoted alumna of Florida Southern College and was president of the Alumni Association, elected to the Board of Trustees and named Honorary Chancellor, the school’s highest honor, in 1980.