Ernest L. Pickard, Sr., 82, of Fitzgerald, Georgia, died Wednesday, September 9, 2015, at Dorminy Medical Center in Fitzgerald.
Funeral services will be held 11 AM, Saturday, September 12, 2015, at the Church of the Nazarene in Fitzgerald, with the Rev. Dan Hayes and the Rev. David Ash officiating. Interment will follow in the Evergreen Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday.
Mr. Pickard was born July 17, 1933, in Berrien County, Georgia, to the late William Ralph & Hortense Abell Pickard. He attended school in Enigma and served his country honorably in the United States Navy during the Korean War. He retired from the Georgia Department of Transportation as assistant district engineer. Mr. Pickard worked briefly for Ewing Buick in Ashburn and currently worked as a project engineer for Fitzgerald Water, Light, & Bond. He will be remembered as a loving father who loved his family and his Lord. His grandchildren were his heart. He loved to fish and was a member of the Church of the Nazarene and the American Legion Post 99.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Nell Pickard of Fitzgerald; children and their spouses: Kitty Pickard Bishop of Leesburg, Lee & Tina Pickard of Byron, and Kristy & Donaldson Johnson of Valdosta; six grandchildren: Breckyn & Lalo Guzman, Ashtyn & Mike Bobbey, Clark & Jillian Bishop, Mary & Jason Thrasher, Brianna Johnson, and Walker Johnson; and one great-grandson, Victor Guzman. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by three brothers.