[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 109 (Thursday, July 22, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO CHARLES KING PICKETT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. JO BONNER

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 22, 2010

  Mr. BONNER. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the memory of a longtime 
Mobile resident, and a very special friend, Charles King Pickett, who 
passed away at the age of 74 on March 4, 2010.
  King, as he was affectionately known to his family and many friends, 
was loved by everyone who knew him. He never met a stranger and always 
had a kind word for others.
  He served America with uncommon dedication as a paratrooper with the 
U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division and in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
  The founder of Pickett and Adams Insurance Agency in Mobile, King 
shepherded his very successful business for more than four decades 
before retiring in 2003.
  An active member of the community, King Pickett helped launch the 
Port City Pacers and led by example, jogging over 30,000 miles during 
his lifetime.
  Harkening back to his Army paratrooper days, he also enjoyed 
recreational skydiving, racking up 115 jumps, including one on his 70th 
birthday.
  He was a strong supporter of Mobile's Mardi Gras and was an active 
member of both the Knights of Revelry and the Comic Cowboys. 
Additionally, King was very involved in the Cellular South 1st and 10 
Club, Mobile's Senior Bowl football game and numerous other community 
events such as the American Cancer Society's Chili Cook-Off.
  Madam Speaker, Joseph Kennedy once said ``The measure of a man's 
success in life is not the money he's made . . . it's the kind of 
family he has raised.''
  King was deeply loved by his son, Dr. Taylor King Pickett, his 
daughter, Eliska Pickett Morgan, my deputy chief of staff and district 
director, as well as his wonderful grandsons, William Roe, Smith 
Pickett and Michael Morgan, as well as his lovely granddaughters, Riley 
Pickett, Taylor Roe, Hannah Pickett and Adalee Pickett. He also leaves 
behind hundreds of friends throughout South Alabama. In a very real 
way, we were all King's family.
  As his longtime friend, C. Dennis McCann, recently observed in a 
letter published in the Mobile Press-Register, ``King always brought a 
contagious happiness to everyone he met.''
  Without question, Mobile lost a great citizen and a dear friend this 
past March.
  On behalf of all those who knew and loved King, I offer my deepest 
condolences to his family. King Pickett lived a truly remarkable life 
and his death leaves a void which is not possible to be filled.

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