Obituary - D’Arcy Calvin Pickrell

It is with broken hearts we announce the death of our baby brother D’Arcy. 

D’Arcy arrived on July 22, 1967, the last of 5 children born to Bob and Ruth Pickrell. Mom always joked that D’Arcy was such a horrible baby that there would be no more children considered after him. He grew up on a farm near Semans, Saskatchewan and was very active in ball and hockey all through school. D’Arcy had great friends growing up and kept those same friends into adulthood. He had a wonderfully fun and hilarious personality and was always game to get into whatever trouble was brewing in town. D’Arcy was the best storyteller and a master of one-liners. He was also extremely loyal; friends and family always knew he’d have their back. D’Arcy was a huge music fan. We’re not sure there is a band out there that he didn’t see in concert, sometimes traveling to one side of the country or the other. If there was a band playing locally he was always ready to grab the microphone and sing a few tunes. D’Arcy assumed responsibility of the farm when he was seventeen after the death of our father. He farmed for many years while he worked at obtaining his tower crane ticket. Eventually he rented out the farm and worked in tower cranes full time across Saskatchewan and Alberta. D’Arcy loved being up high in that crane looking down on the world through his glass floor. He spent the last few years in Saskatoon where he operated a tower crane on several different high rise projects in the city. This allowed him to travel home to Semans on the weekends where he could visit the farm, see friends and stay at the cottage at Last Mountain Regional Park. D’Arcy retired in October 2025.  

D’Arcy passed away quietly on October 20, 2026 due to complications following heart surgery on October 9th, 2026. We would like to express our deep gratitude to all the doctors, nurses and support staff in the Surgical ICU at the Regina General Hospital. They are angels – every one!  

D’Arcy is predeceased by his parents: Bob and Ruth (Hyde) Pickrell. He is survived by his siblings: Garth (Alison) Pickrell, Lois (Max) Anderson, Evelyn (Chad) Neighbour and Norman (Toni) Pickrell. He will also be extremely missed by many nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews, cousins and friends. He has left a huge hole in our lives which we will attempt to fill with wonderful memories and funny stories about D’Arcy. We think there are enough of both to slowly fill the empty space.  

We have decided there will be no formal service for D’Arcy, he wouldn’t want either the formal or the service. Instead we will host an informal social afternoon in the Semans Gymnasium on Saturday, November 7th, 2026, from noon until 3PM. There will be food, drink and, of course, a beer or two. We also want to hear any and all good stories about D’Arcy. We have no doubt that there are some we’ve never heard.  

We would like to close this out using D’Arcy speak: “Don’t plan any dinner cause we’ll have some lunch for you to gnaw on. And don’t bring any damn flowers cause they’re just going to die in a week. If you wanna fill your boots, you can give some cash to the Surgical ICU at the Regina General hospital who did their damn best to fix me up.”  

Rest in Peace Brother.  

Garth, Lois, Evelyn and Norman