Clifford Pickens

Services for Clifford D. Pickens, 79, Lucerne, will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Metea Baptist Church, Lucerne.

He died at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Aug. 7, 2009, at Woodbridge Health Campus.

Born Aug. 12, 1929, in Kewanna, he was the son of Frank E. and Blanche M. Morris Pickens. On May 4, 1951, in Young America, he married to Georgiann Riemenschneider, who survives.

Clifford was a member of the Metea Baptist Church, a 1949 graduate of Metea High School, past worthy patron of Fulton Order of the Eastern Star and past worshipful master of Fulton Masonic Lodge #665. He was the past president of the third wheel patrol for the Shrine Club in Logansport, 32nd-degree Scottish Rite member of South Bend and member of the Indianpolis Murat Shrine. He was a current member of Rochester Moose Lodge 1107. Clifford enjoyed gardening and wood working.

Surviving are his wife, Georgiann Pickens, Logansport; son, Monte and Corinne Pickens, Rochester; daughter, Pam and Denny Grable, Springboro, Ohio; brother, Ralph and Ondah Pickens, Lucerne; sister, Esther Books, Rochester; grandson, Brian and Kelly Grable, Salem, Mass.; granddaughters, Jill and Jim Topich, Mason, Ohio, and Lindsey and Matt Dunithan, Belleville, Ill.; step-granddaughter Britt Fansler, Greenwood; great-grandchildren James and Jodie Topich, Mason, Ohio, and Ava Grable, Salem Mass; and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by four sisters, Helen Smith, Mabel Burrous, Edna Annis and Opal Pickens; five brothers, Herman, Raymond, Frank Jr., Robert and Clyde Pickens; one son, Ronald Pickens; two great-grnddaughter, Jacqueline Topich; and stepmother Hazel Pickens.

Pastor Bill Cordes and Pastor Bob Cree will officiate. Burial will be in Metea Cemetery, Metea.

Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at the Gundrum funeral home and one hour prior to services at the church on Tuesday. A Masonic service will be conducted at 8 p.m. with a Shrine walk by to follow.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Shriners’ Childrens Hospital.

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