Staff writer
Bill Pickering loved to play practical jokes.
His wife, Margaret Pickering, of Marion, remembers when he would call people, modify his voice, and pretend he was someone else to trick them. Lorie Kirkpatrick, Marion Elementary School’s librarian, remembers one time when she was walking home from school and he turned the sprinklers on her friends and she.
Leroy Burton of Augusta donated “Laugh’s, Hoots and Giggles” by Joseph Rosenbloom to the MES library in honor of Pickering’s great sense of humor.
Pickering also loved to fish. When Margaret Pickering looked through “A Good Day’s Fishing” by James Prosek and “The Little Fish That Got Away” by Bernadine Cook, two more books to rest in the shelves of the library, she was happy to see that “A Good Days Fishing” had a small piece of educational advice about different lures. Margaret said that Bill was always looking for things to help him catch fish.
Pickering spent many hours at the Marion football field, both coaching and cutting grass and other maintenance during the summer.
Leroy Burton and Pickering coached and taught together— Pickering taught business and Burton taught science. Over the years, a strong friendship was developed, a friendship that endures with the donation of these books:
“Hunter and His Dog” by Brian Wildsmith represents Pickering and Burton’s hunting trips together. “Teammates” by Ronde and Tiki Barber, and “My Football Book” by Gail Gibbons represent the time that Bill spent as Marion’s football coach.
Pickering and Burton’s friendship lasted through the bad times, too. Leroy and Gerry Burton took weekly, 60-mile trips from Augusta to see Pickering in the hospital after Pickering was diagnosed with leukemia in March. Pickering had to undergo extensive chemotherapy; and compounding matters, he suffered a stroke during the treatment. He fought the disease until July 22 when the ravages of cancer finally killed him.
But Bill Pickering lives on in the donation of these books and the love of his wife and his friends.