Elizabeth Ann Pickman, 86; fashion model, mother of six

ELIZABETH ANN PICKMAN

Elizabeth Ann Pickman, who modeled for the New York luxury department store Best & Co. in the 1940s, raised six children on suppers gleaned from gourmet magazines and bedtime tales that sprang from her own imagination.

"She would make up these wonderful stories for us," said her daughter Stephanie Monahan of Milton. "They were always about people we imagined were partially us. I seem to remember my brother Timmy being called 'Leftover' because he ate so much."

Mrs. Pickman, who was known as Betsy, died on New Year's Eve at her home in Bedford following a long illness. She was 86.

Her husband, David, whom she married 62 years ago, was by her side with the rest of the family, to which she devoted her life.

Born in Blue Hills, North Dakota, Mrs. Pickman was the daughter of Joseph and Eileen Van Ausdel. Her father was a businessman, and the family moved to Chicago and later to New York.

A talent scout discovered Mrs. Pickman on the street and offered her the modeling job for the Fifth Avenue retailer.

"She was sort of a Betty Grable type. She had those legs," said her daughter Susan Sargent of Boston.

Mrs. Pickman gave up modeling after she married and left the Big Apple for her husband's hometown in Massachusetts. She had met David in New York at a church-sponsored card party and the couple settled in Bedford, down the road from his parents.

"She came into this New England family that wore lots of tweeds and she was a bit of a sparkler from New York," Sargent said.

Mrs. Pickman conveyed her stylish ways to her children, they said.

"She made life fun in lots of ways. The way she saw things, you had to have fun," Sargent said.

Mrs. Pickman enjoyed giving parties, especially birthday dinners featuring chicken paprika and her signature sponge cake with butter cream frosting.

"It was never picture perfect, never store-bought anything. It was just Mom's. She would create these events that were magical," Sargent said.

Despite a struggle with dyslexia, Mrs. Pickman loved to read. She studied Russian history and reveled in a trip to St. Petersburg with her husband, who worked as a journalist for United Press International and later as spokesman for the Museum of Fine Arts and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In the 1980s, Mrs. Pickman was president of the board of directors for Concord Family Services.

She also loved the arts. She took classes at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln and enjoyed clay and stone sculpture.

"She really had talent and I wish she could have pursued it more but the demands of six children were just too much," Sargent said.

In 2004, Mrs. Pickman suffered a stroke and the couple moved into a retirement community at Carleton-Willard Village in Bedford. "They were each other's lives," Sargent said.

In addition to her husband and two daughters, Mrs. Pickman leaves another daughter, Elizabeth Flanagan of Wellesley; sons David of Bethlehem, N.H., Timothy of Archer, Fla.; and Ted Pickman of Meppel, the Netherlands; a sister, Mary Jean Ensko of Glen Cove, N.Y.; and 16 grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. today at St. Michael Church in Bedford, followed by a reception in the parish hall. A private burial will follow at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.