Ezra Alden Pickup

ALBURGH – Reverend Ezra Alden Pickup Jr, 86, died peacefully at home on January 1, 2022. Reverend Pickup was born on June 8, 1935, in Hartford, CT to Ezra Alden Pickup Sr. and Lois Westwood (Hiscox) Pickup.

Reverend Pickup was known as Alden to his family and Ezra to his many friends. He graduated from Wethersfield High School in Connecticut, was an accomplished organist, a fluent speaker of French, and a member of the National Honor Society and the Library Club. He continued his love of languages throughout his life, becoming fluent in Canadian French. Whenever he baptized someone, he made a point of learning their language so they could be baptized in their native tongue; he proudly kept a collection of Bibles from around the globe. He earned his BA from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and earned his Bachelor of Sacred Theology (STB) from Berkeley Divinity Seminary at Yale University in Connecticut in 1960.

Reverend Pickup was the priest at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Albany, NY for many years, afterward relocating to Vermont to serve the Vermont Diocese until his retirement. He served on the board of directors for 17 years at the Brookhaven Home for Boys in Chelsea, Vermont, and served in the ministry for three parishes in the Northeast Kingdom, VT, as well as ministering in Newport, VT. Prior to the pandemic, he traveled every week to attend services at St. John the Evangelist Church in Montreal and made many friends there.

He was an active member of the Alburgh community for over forty years. He spent every day at the Alburgh Public Library, helping any way he could. He became close with the parishioners of St. Amadeus Church and developed many friendships there, among them the Haffly family, Maurice Gauthier, and Fr. Maurice Boucher.

He had the innate ability to spot people who needed help and felt it was his purpose to take care of others. His motto was, “You don’t choose who you help. In God’s eyes, you help all.”

“Somebody said that it couldn’t be done, but he with a chuckle replied That maybe it couldn’t, but he would be one who wouldn’t say til he’d tried.”

He is survived by his brother-in-law; Kenneth Spitz of Canton, CT, niece; Loreen Forastiere of Simsbury, CT, nephew; James Spitz of Rochester, MN, nephew; Craig Roberts of NM, cousins; Chuck Dubina and Dale Dubina of N. Franklin, CT, several great-nephews, and a multitude of friends throughout the United States and Canada.

Friends and family are invited to the life celebration of Reverend Ezra Pickup to include a funeral service at 11:00 AM on Saturday, June 4, 2022, at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, 38 Grand Avenue, Swanton, VT. Interment will follow in St. Joseph’s 60 Cemetery Rd, Isle La Motte, VT 05463.

For those who wish, contributions in Ezra’s memory may be made to a charity of your choice.

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