Judge Richard Watson PICKINS

Woodward News July 02, 2009 Page 3 Woodward, OK

Submitted by: Donna

JUDGE RICHARD WATSON PICKENS Woodward, Okla.

Funeral services for Judge Richard Watson Pickens, 79, Enid, will be 10 a.m. Thursday, July 2, 2009, at First United Methodist Church with Rev. Michael Smith officiating. Burial will follow in Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of Brown-Cummings Funeral Home.

Judge Pickens was born June 30, 1929, in Enid to Melvin Ellsworth and Virginia Watson Pickens and died Sunday, June 28, 2009, in Mercy Health Care Center Hospital in Oklahoma City.

He was raised and educated in Enid, graduating from Enid High School in 1947. Judge Pickens attended Phillips University from 1947-1950. He then became manager of Long Bell Lumber Company in Enid from 1950-1955. From 1956-1961, he attended Oklahoma City University School of Law, graduating L.L.B. in 1961. He moved to Sedona, Arizona and lived there until November of 1974, when he was appointed by Governor David Hall to Associate Judge of Harper County. From 1981 until 1992, he was District Judge, District 4, State of Oklahoma, Enid. From 1982-1984, he was presiding judge Judge, Northwest Judicial Administrative District. From 1987 until 1991, he was a member of the Court on the Judiciary Trial Division.

Judge Pickens was on the board of directors of Wheatland Mental Health from 1989 until 1991. He served on the Board of Trustees, Boy Scouts of America, Great Salt Plains Council. In 1991, he was on the board of directors of Enid Rotary Club from 1987 until 1990; he was on the board of directors of Grand National Quail Club and was president in 1991, its 25th anniversary year.

Judge Pickens served on the Police Civil Service Commission from 1996 to 2003 and from 2004 to 2006. In 1992, he was awarded Distinguished Law Alumnus of Oklahoma City University and Lifetime Achievement Award from Garfield Bar Association on December 18, 2006.

He was an avid quail hunter and had a keen interest in the Civil War. He has an extensive library on Civil War History and has toured many of the battlefields.

He married Linda McKnight in 1982 in Taos, Mexico. Judge Pickens is survived by his wife, Linda, of the home; sister-in-law, Marilyn Johnson Pickens; three children, Stanley Pickens of Broomfield, Colo., Sarah Pickens Neas and her husband, John of Snohomish, Wash., and Donna Pickens Abbott and husband, Alan, of Mooreland, Okla.; nine grandchildren, Brent, Chris, Stephanie, Stacey Pickens, Rhema and Rachel Pickens Neas, Newly, Shelby and Austin Abbott; three stepchildren, Garin Shaw, Tanna Hoopingarner and husband, Jeff, and Clint Jayne.

He was preceded in death by his father, Melvin Ellsworth Pickens, his mother, Virginia Watson Pickens Talley; and one brother, Melvin E. (Bud) Pickens Jr. of Sherman, Texas.

Memorials may be made in Judge Pickens memory to Oklahoma City University School of Law or the Civil War Preservation Trust with Brown-Cummings Funeral Home serving as custodian of the fund.

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