H. Edwin Pickard ’44

H. Edwin Pickard ’44 of Raleigh, N.C., died November 22, 2006. He earned a B.D. degree from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., in 1946 and was awarded the Walter W. Moore and John A. MacLean Fellowship for graduate theological study. He received a Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1947 and a Th.D. from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia in 1951. An honorary Doctor of Divinity degree was conferred by Davidson College in 1978. For over fifty years, “Dr. Ed,” as he was affectionately known in his congregations, lived his motto, “I want to make my life count all that it can, for as long as it can, in the service of God, and in ministry to others.” He began his ministry at Sunset Hills Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, N.C. in 1947. He then was senior minister at Orange Presbyterian Church, Orange, Va. In 1954, Dr. Pickard moved to Beaumont, Texas, to become senior minister at a new church, St. Andrews Presbyterian. In 1966, he accepted a call to become the senior minister at White Memorial Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, N.C., where he retired in March 1993, just shy of his seventieth birthday. He continued his ministry in “retirement” as an interim senior minister at Presbyterian churches in New Orleans, La.; Goldsboro, N.C.; Black Mountain, N.C., and Dalton, Ga. During his lifetime, he served on numerous committees, boards of trustees and visitors for seminaries and colleges, and in Presbyterian governing bodies. He was a member of the Lions Club in Beaumont, Texas, and Raleigh. He wrote numerous educational articles for the Presbyterian Church (USA). He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen Little Pickard, Survivors include four children: Sharon P. Merritt of Dalton, Ga.; Cambey P. Gallagher of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.; John Pickard of Raleigh, N.C.; and Sara P. Finger of Hickory, N.C. In addition, he is survived by nine grandchildren: Turner, John and Cambey Merritt; Peyton Gallagher and Laura Gallagher Sammons and her husband, David; Hampton and Katherine Pickard; and Patrick and Mary McKenzie Finger; a brother, Franklin Pickard and grandson, Zachary Hendren Pickard; and his sister-in-law, Dr. Sara P. Little.