Erna Jean (Mclaughlin) Pickard

Jean was born October 20, 1924 to Erna Lavada (Eddins) and James Thomas McLaughlin and went to be with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on November 22, 2023. Her family has a long history in Texas beginning in 1848 with the arrival of her great-great-grandfather Joseph Evans from Alabama.

Jean graduated from Jewett High School in 1940 at the age of 16. During WWII she served as a member of the Aircraft Warning Service to keep watch for enemy planes entering American airspace. She attended Stephen F. Austin College and it was here that she met her future husband Johnnie Murvin Pickard. During the war she taught school one year in Devers, Texas.

Jean and Johnnie married on June 26, 1945 and Jean worked at Goodyear while Johnnie served in the U.S. Navy. She quit work when her children were born and became a stay-at-home mom and volunteer with church and PTA. In 1960 after surviving encephalitis, Jean returned to college and earned her Master’s degree with honors from the University of Houston. She worked as a high school counselor at Galena Park High School for nineteen years having a positive influence in lives of many young people. In her retirement years she began making crocheted angels and became known as the angel lady. “The Angel Lady” made thousands of crocheted angels which she gave away to family, friends and strangers. She also volunteered with hospice and her church.

She is preceded in death by her husband of forty-four years, Johnnie Pickard; her second husband, Alton Holmes; her parents, Erna & James McLaughlin; her sister, Hazel Robeson; and her brothers, Donald and Sidney McLaughlin. Jean is survived by her son, John Thomas Pickard of Buda Texas; her daughter, Linda Jean Holstien (Ed) of Georgetown Texas; her grandsons, Paul Holstien (Krista) of Las Vegas Nevada, Greg Holstien of Richardson Texas, and Ryan Holstien (Jennie) of Cedar Park Texas; granddaughters, Sarah Lindblad (Kevin) of Liberty Hill Texas, Kay Gonzales (Michael) of Carlsbad California and Claire Pickard of Buda Texas; great-grandsons, Logan & Sean Holstien and James Gonzales; great-granddaughters, Henley & Livia Lindblad and Violet Gonzales; and many well-loved nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews.

A devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend, Jean will always be remembered as a generous and caring person who loved and was loved by her family & friends and who had the ability to relate to people of all ages. Jean wrote in her journal that she was blessed to be born into a Christian family and had no doubts about God. She said her first personal experience of faith was when she was 4 or 5 years old and God gave her the courage to walk past what she thought was a snake in the road but turned out to be a stick. At the time she thought God changed it just for her and said to herself “He’s there for me too.” She also related a story when she was ten. She made a special prayer for a Bible of her own for Christmas and told no one what she wanted. Christmas came with no Bible but in January she received a gift at church for best Sunday school attendance – it was a Bible. Her journal reflection was “In God’s Time”. At the time of her death she was member at The Worship Place Sun City Georgetown, Texas.

At the time of her death she was a member of The Worship Place in Sun City Texas and was lovingly cared for by the staff of The Delaney at Georgetown and Concho Hearts Hospice. She will be missed.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations may be made in Jean’s honor to Concho Hearts Hospice, The Worship Place or The Delaney at Georgetown.

Journal entry: “I have depended on God to direct my life for as long as I can remember. Somehow He has given me whatever I required through so many things that I did not understand and often saw no way that the results could be positive. How can I at this point doubt that He is working for positive results in my life or that what happens is not in His hands”.

A celebration of Jean's life will be held 2 P.M., Saturday, December 2, 2023 at Walters Funeral Home, Centerville, Texas.  Interment will follow in Concord Cemetery, Concord, Texas.  

Arrangements are under the direction of Walters Funeral Home, Centerville, Texas.