William Howard "Bill" PICKETT

Howard was raised by parents Joseph and Edna (Sims) Pickett, the youngest of 5 children on Five Mile Prairie. He attended the small two room grade school, went on to Jr. High in Mead, and graduated from Mead High School in June, 1964. He also attended EWU. He served in the US Navy aboard the USS Constellation Carrier (1965-1969). After the Navy, he was a milkman in San Diego before deciding to go into lineman training. The Pacific Northwest called him home and he landed in Wallace, ID working for the Citizens Utilities Co. which was purchased by WWP (now Avista). He climbed the ladder as lineman, foreman, general foreman, etc. and ended his career as Area Manager for southwest Avista customers working out of Othello, WA.

Howard was a people person and had a deep love for and a relationship with God. His hobbies included fishing and hunting, skiing, ATV, learning history and Native American culture. He was an avid rock collector and polishing them as well as coin collecting and photography. He was most interested in Ancestry/DNA and researched his family history back to the Mayflower and beyond. He gathered the information necessary to be able to join the Society of Mayflower Descendants. He was also a member of SARS. His family tree has over 14,000 people and he always delighted in talking about any new discoveries of such.

He is survived by his wife, Vickie Sellers Flatt; daughters Joanna (Matt) Conley, Stephanie Pickett and son William Pickett; sister Wilma Scheibner (Walt, deceased), Phyllis Rollins (Elmer, deceased) and brother Ernie Pickett (Shirley). He has several nieces and nephews as well as 4 step-daughters, 3 step-sons, 24 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren He is preceded in death by his parents, 2 baby brothers, Joseph and Clarence, and sister, Pearl.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, December 19, 2021, at 1:00 pm at Sunset Chapel, 5200 W Wellesley Ave., Spokane, WA. A reception immediately following at VFW Post #51, 300 W Mission Ave., Spokane, WA.