James Whitman Pickrell, DVM


b. July 4, 1927 Phoenix, Arizona
d. August 7, 2011 Sonoita, Arizona

 James Pickrell was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1927. He attended the University of Arizona and Washington State University, where he graduated with a degree in veterinary medicine in 1954. After working in a practice in Tucson for a couple of years, he moved to Nogales and built up a large animal practice that stretched from southern New Mexico to Cananea, Sonora to western Arizona and all the way up to the Phoenix area. He moved to Sonoita in 1980.

 "Everything he did was above and beyond," Iric Burden, said. (Iric is the son of Pickrell's life companion Marsha Burden who died in 2008.) "His passion was veterinary medicine. It didn't make a difference what time the phone rang, whether it was 8 a.m. or 2 a.m, he would say he would be right there."

 He was also a talented artist who completed between 30 and 40 bronzes over the years. "He got hooked on doing sculptures. I think that was his way to relax." Burden said. He was also very interested in international and political history. He and Marsha were "huge" readers, according to her son.

 Pickrell definitely enjoyed a good time as well. He and Marsha loved to go to Nogales, Sonora for dinner. They would hire four or five mariachi bands, getting them all playing together. "All the mariachi bands knew him and would crowd around when they showed up, " Burden remembered. "They would go into the wee hours of the morning, and then go home and get up and go to work the next day. "

 Everyone had their stories about Doc Pickrell. "He could tell a joke better than anyone, " Marka Moss said. Pat Basinger said, "He told you exactly what he thought about anything. He was very compassionate."

 At the celebration of Pickrell's life that followed his funeral service at Black Oak, everyone was handed a shot of Jack Daniels, Pickrell's drink of choice, to toast his memory, and stories of his life were shared by his many friends in the large crowd gathered to pay tribute to him.

 Iric Burden said "There was a passion for life in general, whether it was literature or artistry or conversation. There was never a dull moment. He was larger than life."

  His headstone reads "Poco a poco, vamos lejos." Little by little, we'll go far.

Writen and edited by Corbin Smith from Pickrell's obituary in the "Nogales International Bulletin," November 23, 2011

Click below to return to:
History
A-D
E-H
I-P
Q-Z

SCS 9/29/24