Jack Pickin

From CS-Quakers

Jack Pickin (1917 – 2005)

John Harlan Pickin, known as Jack, was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. His mother was Quaker, and his father was English and part of the Church of England. His parents met at the Dayton Quaker meeting, which his father attended at the invitation of his landlords, who ran a Quaker boarding house in Dayton. According to Jack, his father had been living there only two days before he was invited to meeting. His accent was hard to understand, but Jack’s mother could understand him, which led Jack to one of his truisms: “When you find a woman who understands you, that's quite a step forward."

After serving as a medic in WWII—an experience he termed “shocking and horrible,” Jack married Mary Garretson in 1945. Their daughter Fran was born in 1953, and the family moved to Madison, NJ in 1955, where house prices were lower than anywhere else in Morris County. Jack went to the Presbyterian church with the family occasionally, and taught their Sunday school for five years in the manner of Friends. According to Jack, no one ever asked what he was doing, they were just glad he was doing it.

Jack worked in Jersey City as a chemical engineer for Colgate Palmolive for 33 years, a career he greatly enjoyed. He was responsible for the brand of soap known as Irish Spring. He started traveling to plants around the world to help them fix whatever was wrong. According to Jack, "It was five percent chemistry and ninety-five percent diplomacy." He clearly enjoyed traveling around the world and getting to work with and know people from different countries, as most of the stories he told about these trips included him saying "I got a big kick" out of the people he met.

Jack came to Summit Meeting in 1992 with his daughter Fran, who attended as well for while. When Jack became unable to drive, he gratefully accepted rides from a number of people in the meeting, and always greeted Friends with a story or joke. He was particularly fond of the young children within the meeting, and enjoyed conversing with and playing with babies as they were held in their parents’ arms. Although hard of hearing, and seldom able to hear the vocal ministry that other Friends offered, Jack was faithful in his attendance, practicing a strong ministry of presence in his quiet, understated way.

Jack died peacefully on October 26, 2005. A memorial service in the manner of Friends was held at Summit Meeting on November 4, 2005.