PICKER, Frederick William (1907-1982)

PICKER, OWENS, JOHNSON, MCMANUS

Posted By: Elaine Harrington (email)
Date: 11/25/2006 at 05:57:03

THE OPINION-TRIBUNE
DATED AUGUST 10, 1982:

Services were held Monday at Peterson Mortuary for Frederick William Picker, 74, who died Aug. 6 in Council Bluffs after a three year battle with cancer. The Revs. Jerold Irvin and Sherman Mills officiated. Burial was at Malvern Cemetery.

Pallbearers were Sam Delavan, Kenneth Hammer, John Pitzer, Merrill Sargent, Roger Slaughter and Donald Yates. Honorary pallbearers were Clyde Huffman, Glenn Johnson, Alfred Johnson, Clair Clark, Homer Petty and Fred Biermann.

Picker operated a repair shop in Glenwood since 1939. A serious injury in 1943 temporarily closed the business, and from 1965 to 1967 he worked as city street commissioner, while the shop work was continued by his son, Jim.

He was born in Milesville, South Dakota, on Sept. 4, 1907, the son of Fred and Fannie Picker. He grew up on the family homestead and attended rural schools through the eighth grade. He served an apprenticeship in Philip, S. D., with George Owens, then attended the Wolverine School of Trades in Indianapolis, Ind., where he was certified as a metal finisher. Before coming to Glenwood in 1939, he worked at the Connersville Refrigerator Factory and later as a metal finisher for International Harvester in Indianapolis.

On March 24, 1935, he married Ruth Elizabeth Johnson in Malvern. They made their first home in Anderson, Ind., where they operated a restaurant.

Survivors include his wife, Ruth; son, James; grandchildren, Kenton and Kendra of Glenwood;
brother, Stanley, Salt Lake City, Utah; half-brother, James E. McManus, Park Rapids, Minn.; and other relatives. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Phyllis Irene, two brothers, two sisters and his parents.