Remember When From the Past--Lucky Pickering

Remember When
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Kenna Holm
 
Lucky Pickering–Man of Many Talents

    Lana Pickering Van Ausdal came in the other day and brought me some pictures that belonged to her father,  Wayne(better known as Lucky) Pickering. He was one of the most talented men we have ever seen. He could just about do anything.
    Sid Coray built a furniture store where the parking lot is across south from the old Huish
Theater and Lucky (who by the way, got his name for being unlucky with keeping a dog. They
    always got run over or killed some way) had a cabinet shop in the back of the furniture store.

   Lucky then went on to buy into the furniture store. It was then known as Coray-Pickering Furniture Store.Lana brought in the picture of a group that worked for her dad and Sid. In the picture is (L to R) Sid Coray (in the coveralls) Lucky Pickering, ? (couldn’t tell who this man was) Phyllis Simmons (Dick Simmons mother), ? (another unknown), Mel Swain (Fred Swain’s dad) Rex Patten, and Johnny Bott. This picture was taken in front of the furniture store windows with the windows reflecting the building across the street.
    It was fun talking to all his family and finding out so many things about Lucky. He was a perfectionist and he could do anything he set his mind to. He did photography, sculptures, pottery, jewelry, statues,wood carvings and so on and so on. Lucky s sister, Colleen, said when she was in high school in 1946, she painted the floor of the furniture store after school when theywere getting ready to open the store.
     Lucky thought everyone should know bookkeeping so he made Colleen come in after school and do bookkeeping for him when the store first started. Sherm Loveless then came in and was bookkeeper for them and also worked out on the floor selling furniture.  Their store had the first TV in town and the worker’s families would go up and watch TV in the store after hours. Pat (Loveless) Hill said she remembers going in on Thursday nights to watch “The Lone Ranger.” Karma Whitelock (Lucky s niece) said they also went up and watched the television.
The store carried a lot of nice furniture and appliances. Lucky had his cabinet shop in the back of the store, and later put in his Artisan Shop.
    Lucky loved animals and he made friends with a little squirrel which set up house keeping in the nursery section of the Artisan Shop. Lucky named him Bunny because he finally made an appearance for the photographer on Easter Sunday. When the squirrel was hungry, he would answer Lucky s whistle to replenish his storehouse with seeds and nuts.
     He also had a flock of ducks that stayed around the back of the store that he kept fed. They were so friendly that when Lucky would walk home for lunch, they would follow him. McKay Christensen didn’t have the same feelings for the ducks because they made messes in the back of his store.
Lucky designed and put all the rock in the Payson Park fish pond. His niece Karma said he wanted everything to be perfect for it so he would go up and watch how the sun would shine on that particular area and even go up and spend the night watching how the moon and then the sunrise also shown on the area so he could put the rocks of different colors in the right place to be the most effective.   Now that s is a perfectionist.
     He bought Sid Coray s share of the furniture store out and then leased it to Merlynn Tanner and the name was changed to Payson Furniture and Appliance. It was then that he opened his Artisan Shop, which was the name his sister suggested because it fit him so well.

    One Sunday he had been pouring hot bronze metal into a cast for a statue he was making as a hobby and he left to go home for lunch. While he was home, the furnace he had been using to heat the bronze caught the shop on fire. With the sawdust from the cabinets , the fire really took of, completely destroyed his shop.


     The Payson Fire Dept. was there within minutes and kept the fire contained to the shop and from not doing to much damage to the furniture store. The main damage to the furniture store was from water and smoke and plate glass windows that were smashed to carry furniture and appliances through. The roof of the Safeway Store (the building where the American Beauty Academy is now) and also the roof of the Payson Chronicle which was directly east of the furniture store received minor damage.
     Lucky s niece Diane (Beddoes) Hansen said they had all their home furnishings stored in a room by his shop and it all received a lot of smoke and water damage.  Diane and Jerry were in the process of getting their home ready to move into and needed a place to store their things for awhile and Lucky had offered his place to put them.
     Lucky never believed in insurance, so nothing was insured. Merlyn Tanner had his furniture
and appliances insured which was a good thing.  People in Payson were so good to rush in and help bring out his merchandise and put in the street to keep it from burning. Later scores of volunteers helped move the merchandise to vacant stores offered by owners of the buildings.
     The Fire Dept. did a marvelous job in getting to the fire and getting it out as soon as they could and were praised for the work theydid.  Payson Furniture and Appliance kept open for many years with Ray Sorenson taking over after Merlynn Tanner.
    Lucky Pickering was a talented man. Reallyone of a kind. He died in 1981 at the young age of 71.
Another remember when..