Ralph De Rao Pickett JR

Ralph D. Pickett Jr. (Mike) passed from his life on this earth on January 25, 2026, surrounded by hisfamily.
Born at home in Banning to Ralph and Mary Pickett on December 6 1918, Mike had one older brother
John Marcus Pickett. Mike graduated from Banning High and attended Riverside Junior College when he
was inducted into the US Army in 1942 to serve his county in the 937th Engineering Aviation Battalion.
He not only served, but served in one of the most dangerous battles of the time, the landing on Omaha
beach. He left the Army in August of 1945 as a staff sergeant retiring with an honorable discharge.
After his life in the service he became a pillar of the budding Banning community, operating Pickett's
Market from 1945 to 1976 with his brother Marcus. In 1952 he married Margarett Anne Hill and became a
father in 1957 to Mary Anne Pickett and Margaret Eleanor Pickett in 1962. Ralph is survived by his two
daughters, his grandchildren,Douglas H Wurtzel, Paul E Sanders, and Nathan A Sanders, and his great
grandchildren, Dante F Wurtzel, Chase E Sanders, Isabella K Sanders.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Margaret Anne Pickett in the year 2014 after years of
gentle loving care attending to her needs. Ralph was an active and vibrant individual working well into his
90's keeping his home and community beautifully maintained. He enjoyed walking and hiking, even
scaling one of the tallest mountains in the continental US, Mt. Whitney, and was always happy to share
his love of the outdoors. He was a long time member of the Masonic lodge serving as the Grandmaster,
and regularly volunteered at Gilman Ranch, and San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital and participated in the
Edward Dean museum charity galas.
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I'd like the memory of me to be a happy one.
I'd like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done.
I'd like to leave an echo whispering softly down the ways,
Of happy times and laughing times and bright and sunny days.
I'd like the tears of those who grieve, to dry before the sun;
Of happy memories that I leave when life is done.
Helen Lowrie Marshall

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