Mary Ann Pickard ‘66
Mary Ann Pickard passed away quietly on August 29, 2026, after a several year battle with lymphoma. She was born on October 12, 1948, in Toledo, Ohio to Charles Briggs and Mary Catherine (Pressler) Pickard. She attended St. James the Less grade school and graduated St. Francis DeSales High School (1966). In 1970 she was pinned as an RN from the Mount Carmel School of Nursing. She would spend most of her career in health care at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, working at various levels and seeing to the needs of others. She also became the family go-to in terms of “what's ailing me now”.
Being the middle child among four brothers she developed a competitive edge at an early age. Her summers in the 1960’s were spent at Olympic Swim Club competing at a club team level. She especially enjoyed her time at Pontiac Park where she was known to be outstanding at just about any playground activity she tried, from four square to tetherball to horseshoes. She even won the Park’s bubble gum bubble blowing contest. She particularly excelled in both softball and basketball. Unfortunately for her, and many other girls her age, it was an era before the Title IX legislation that gave men and women equal opportunities in athletics. Without that, for her to continue in organized sports at the next level was out of the question. Sports aside, she never lost her competitiveness. It was a personal source of strength that helped sustain her over the years of dealing with health issues. Till the very end she refused to give up.
As it turned out it would be music, especially singing, that she enjoyed the most and for years she was a fixture in local church choirs. First at St. James the Less and later at St. Andrew, both in Columbus. It was only her health issues that finally caused her to step away. She enjoyed traveling or just going to new places, from Colonial Williamsburg to Alaska and numerous places in between. She also liked horseback riding, collecting Hummel figurines, Ohio State football and following DeSales team sports and took particular pride in how clean and orderly she kept her house. She was also known to make an occasional trip to the casino.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Mary, and by her older brother Robert Bruce Pickard. She is survived by her brothers Charles (Carolyn) and William both of Columbus and James of Barberton, Ohio. Also, by her nieces Jami Pickard of Columbus and Theresa Carpenter of Mississippi, grandniece Carmen Muse of Columbus and nephews Robert C. Pickard of Columbus and Michael J. Pickard of California. She is also survived by numerous cousins and her many friends and acquaintances, including her fellow choir members, whom she thought of as family and by special friends Esther Byrd, Joyce Fasone and Laurie Pahdopony. A special thanks to Mary Ann’s oncologist, Dr. Shabani Dewani M.D., for her years of dedication and caring.