HIGH SCHOOL YEARS - Jim was the sports reporter on the Beaver Staff. He was also in the Pep Club, and in the Chorus.
FROM THE YEARBOOK – “I will my car to anyone who can drive it away from school.”
FROM THE MAY 22, 1956 BEAVER - “Jim Pickering wills his calendar to Mr. Bruer so he can keep track of his ANB.” (Average Number Belonging - a student count number used justify funds for operations and maintenance.)
CLASS OF 1956 REUNITED AFTER TWENTY YEARS - “Jim Pickering- the milk man for Reno, Nevada.” (AND yet another one that didn’t work out. Probably for the best, since there are no milk men any more.)
AFTER HIGH SCHOOL - Jim’s dad was a railroad roadmaster (took care of the tracks) in charge of the section from Silver Bow to Dubois, ID. After high school, and again after he got back from the Army, Jim worked as a track foreman repairing track for about 10 years. Mostly he worked in Idaho and Utah.
When Jim’s parents went to Glenns Ferry, Idaho, he went with them for a short while, but soon went back to Dillon. He went into the Army as a Clerk.
While he was in the Army, he was stationed in Okinawa. Here is another ‘small world’ story. Jim’s sister is Phyllis Pickering (Class of ‘54). Phyllis married Darwin Phillips. Now here is the ‘small world’ part of this. Darwin was stationed in Okinawa at the same time as Jim was there. Darwin was in the Air Force.
One of Jim’s memories while in Okinawa was having a friend that was Japanese. Together they took a trip to Japan and stayed with the friend’s relatives there. The friend’s father was a Colonel in the Japanese army during WW II. Jim really enjoyed this.
After getting discharged, Jim went to school in Salt Lake where he also met his wife Judy, and they were married in 1965.
Jim was a warehouse supervisor for Goodrich Tire in Salt Lake. From there he transferred with Goodrich to San Francisco for six years. They transferred to Reno where he stayed for 24 years. He was laid off in 1986.
He then went to work for a company that made computer paper (those of you with computers will recall the old tractor feed stuff we had to use). The company went out of business in 1986, and Jim went to work for his son-in-law’s insulation company, Gale Insulation, first in Las Vegas, and later they moved the company to Daytona Beach, FL. Jim worked as a supervisor for the new construction division mainly installing bath enclosures, mirrors, and shelving. Jim retired in 2004.
They now live in a retirement community in Summerfield, FL.
THINGS I’M GLAD MY MOTHER NEVER KNEW (I HOPE) OR I WISH SHE NEVER HAD KNOWN - (OK heads up for those of you I haven’t done yet. Going to start asking this of all of you.)
NOW BACK TO JIM - When they were living in Lima, there was a lady that had a really nice vegetable garden. Jim and a friend decided to get some carrots. They crawled on their belly's to the garden and took some. When Jim got home, his mother told him “Mrs. Sabota said that if you ever want anything, just come and ask.” BIG OOPS THERE.
Jim and Bill Mitchell used to walk to the basketball games together. They went through the alleys and smoked cigarettes. One time after he got home, his mother found the cigarettes in his pocket. AND, as they say, that was the end of that. He also recalls that Bill beat him at every game of table tennis that they ever played.
FAMILY - Jim and Judy were married in Elko in 1965 and have two daughters.
Janelle is married to Norm Heidt and both of them work in construction in Vacaville, CA. Janelle from a previous marriage has a son Ben, 28 and a daughter Krista, 26. Norm has three grown daughters, Heather, Jennifer, and Samantha. Together they have a son Zachary, 13.
Jaycee is married to Donny DeMarie and they live in Lake Mary, FL. Donny is a group president for a building products company. They have four girls, Nichole, 14, Morgan, 7, and identical twins Rachael and Bailey, 5.
Jim and Judy have three great grandbabies, all boys.
LEISURE ACTIVITIES - They are into crafts. Judy makes dolls and is in a sewing club. Jim carves Santa's (and that is a new first for me). They had a camp trailer they enjoyed when they lived in Reno.
HIGH SCHOOL MEMORIES - Jim was best friends with Gaylord Weaver (Class of ‘57), Jack Lovell, and Bill Mitchell.
In his senior year they went to a football game at Salmon, ID, where the Beavers won 14 to 13. After the game, Beryl Remely said “Lets tear down the goalpost”. All of the BCHS students raced to the field and tore it down. Beryl swears it wasn’t her, but it was.
Jim remembers Mrs. McCollum as a special teacher, and Mr. Bierrum and his drafting class.