Louis Pickard

Louis Henry James Pickard was born to James Grover Pickard and Marie Henrietta (Lohmann) Pickard on April 21, 1925 in Hooker, Oklahoma. He remained independent and in good health until his peaceful passing at home on April 2, 2014, just 19 days shy of his 89th birthday. Louis joined older siblings Harold and Leona (Edmunds) and through the years came Kenneth, Velma (Hubbell) and Fern (McCaffrey.) In 1928 the family moved to Colorado, first to Fountain and then settled on the farm northeast of Vona in 1931. Louis attended the Ashview School and Vona High School. Louie, as he was known to friends, joined the Army and was shipped to Germany just after V-E Day as part of the Occupation Army. He was in the Military Police and was responsible for guarding war criminals and for keeping the peace on base. Upon returning he met Velva Lowe of Stratton; they were married on June 18, 1949 and Daryl Louis was born the following May, Randal Arthur in 1953, and Marcia Sue in 1961. During the early years the family lived for brief periods in Colorado Springs and Denver where Louis worked as a carpenter and bricklayer, often side-by-side with his brother Kenneth and brother-in-law Ralph Hubbell. The three of them also built custom homes together, which provided the necessary capital to get their farming operations started. In early 1961 the family settled on the farm northeast of Vona, just around the corner from where Louis grew up and where he remained for the rest of his life. He instilled in his children the importance of community service, leading by example in his roles on the Board of Directors of the Flagler Soil Conservation District, Kit Carson County Memorial Hospital, Tri-State and KC Electric. His bricklaying skills came in handy, as he also volunteered his time to help build the Vona Baptist Church, the pillars at the Vona Cemetery, the Scout building in Stratton, and many more places. In 1979 Randy died in a car accident and the family was forever changed; Louis and Velva divorced a few years later. Louie found happiness again when he married Kay Crites on February 14, 1995, which also brought step-daughter Tina and her family into his life. Louie loved telling stories and had great ones about growing up on the farm, surviving the Dust Bowl, the flood of ’37 and his Army days. Lots of the stories involved horses, as he inherited his Dad’s love for them. He was happiest raising cattle and would gladly have done that over farming, but knew it was wise to be diversified. In his later years all the attention he had once devoted to livestock was focused on his Jack Russell terriers, first Scamp and then Cleo. They kept him busy and young! He enjoyed all things Western, from his clothes to his hobbies and had read every Louis L’Amour book ever written and watched every John Wayne movie ever made. He also loved to travel and a highlight of his life was going to Australia with his brother Harold to visit nephew Don Pickard. Louis was preceded in death by his parents; wife Kay; son Randy; brother Harold; sisters Leona (Edmunds) and Velma (Hubbell); sisters-in-law Rose (Harold) Pickard and Joanne (Kenneth) Pickard; brother-in-law Ralph Hubbell and nephews Don and Larry Pickard. He is survived by his brother Kenneth of Flagler; sister Fern (Wayne) McCaffrey of Seibert; brother-in-law Glenn Edmunds of Stratton; son Daryl of Vona; daughter Marci (Bob) Bowman of Scotch Plains, NJ; step-daughter Tina (Ryan) Miller of Cimarron, KS; grandchildren Ryan (Jacinda) Pickard of Burlington; Erin Pickard of Brooklyn, NY; Henry Bowman of Scotch Plains, NJ; step-grandsons Chance, Cole, Cody and Cadon Remington; great grandsons Beau and Colin of Burlington; a host of nieces and nephews and friends beyond measure.