Earl PICKENS was the son of Bob and Audrey PICKENS. The family lived in Davis City, Iowa, until they moved to Mount Ayr in 1939. Some time later, the family moved onto a farm near Kellerton, Iowa.

Earl was an excellent athlete in high school, lettering in baseball, track, football, and basketball. He was a member of O. C. "Pop" VARNER'S basketball squad. On Saturdays Earl worked at Hyde's Grocery Market, arriving at the store at 6:30 a.m. and getting off work around 11 p.m. after the last customer had left the store. Earl received $7 for his workday of over 17 hours. Little did Earl know that this would be the start of a 44-year career in the grocery business.

When he was sixteen-years-old, Earl was converted and became a life-long member of the Methodist Church.

Earl graduated from Mount Ayr High School with the class of 1953. He entered Iowa State University the following fall, working his way through college part-time at the Hy-Vee grocery store in Ames. Earl's academic career at ISU lasted but one quarter. Instead of continuing, Earl went to work full-time at the Hy-Vee store for $60 a week. On Memorial Day in 1954, Earl married his high school sweetheart, Donna LYLE. They moved to Fort Dodge, Iowa in the Spring of 1958 with their two daughters. At Fort Dodge, Earl went to work as the assistant manager of the Hy-Vee Food Store which was under the management of Chuck SKINNER, another Mount Ayr native.

In the Fall of 1959, Earl accepted the position of manager of the Bedford, Iowa, store. He offered the vacant produce manager position to his younger brother Kenny.

Earl took over the management of Des Moines #3 Hy-Vee Store in 1961. He took over the management of a new Hy-Vee store located in east Des Moines in 1963 and remained in this position until he was promoted to supervisor in 1966. This promotion required that the family moved to Chariton, Iowa, headquarters for Hy-Vee Coporation. The PICKENS family had barely settled in their new location when Earl was asked to take over the supervision of 12 stores. This would require a move to Cherokee, Iowa. Shortly after this move, the PICKENS family increased when Earl and Donna adopted two of Donna's nephews.

Earl's promotion placed him under Bill CLEMONS who was his boss back in Earl's high school days in Mount Ayr.

The Northern Division grew rapidly. In 1975, Earl was promoted assistant vice-president of operations. He was soon promoted again to the position of Vice-President of the Cherokee Operations, then, later, to the position of Senior Vice-President with a seat on the board of directors.

After working 40 years for Hy-Vee, Earl retired at the age of 60 in 1994. On the same day Earl announced his intentions of retiring, his younger brother Kenny has also announced his intention of retiring.

Donna passed away in the year of 2001. Earl met Edie LONDON at the Methodist Church and they were married in May of 2005. They maintain a home in the Twin Lakes area of Iowa, but call Las Vegas, Nevada, their home.

Earl PICKENS was the recipient of the Cherokee Citizen of the year in 1990.

SOURCE: FETTY, Jack. Rings of Gold Pp. 75-81. Palindrome Pub. Co. Iowa. 2007.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, June of 2010