JOYCE Pickard was truly one of life’s originals - a Quaker, pacifist and right-to-die campaigner who continued speaking out against all forms of inequality and injustice right to the end of her long life.
Even into her 80s, the former Mount School head could be found lying on the pavement in Exhibition Square to symbolise a casualty of war, or sitting quietly in York Minster as part of a hunger strike to draw attention to children dying in Gaza.
She had a cool, unflinching intelligence which didn’t shirk from unpopular truths. And she continued to say it as she saw it right to the end. Joyce died last Friday, at the age of 95. She would not have wanted anyone to be sentimental about her passing. But she will be hugely missed - and always remembered by those lucky enough to have known her.
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