'Bake the pie' has been Dan Bicker's mission in memory of the love of his life

"Life is short: Eat the pie" is just one of many pie-related maxims adorning the walls of the kitchen in the 154-year-old house in which Jeromesville native Dan Bicker bakes his pies − famous not only for being delicious, but also for drawing a crowd to area fundraisers.

In Bicker's case, "bake the pie" has been his life's mission since the death of his wife, Sally, in 1996.

She was a pie baker, said Bicker, and she inadvertently gave him a new lease on life.

Bicker, affectionately known as the "Pie Guy" by friends, neighbors and family members, came up with a new tradition after experimenting with pie crust dough his wife had left in the freezer.

In seeking to seal her legacy and their love for one another, he cemented his own as a community treasure.

Bicker's pies have become legendary as sought-after fundraising commodities benefiting good causes, such as the Hillsdale Cancer Crusaders.

Bicker's pies take the cake

"My job now is to make pies for benefits," he said, including the American Cancer Society, Ashland County Cancer Association, Akron Children's Hospital and Summa Health Cancer Institute at Jean and Milton Cooper Pavilion.

Tickets to win a pie of the month raffle for Hillsdale Cancer Crusaders have increased from one winner pulled per month to five. To sweeten the deal even more, the winners get homemade ice cream.

In 2013, the Crusaders sold 70 tickets for the annual Dinner and Dessert Auction. This year's event, to be held at 5:30 p.m., Sat., March 23, at Jeromesville Methodist Church, set a record.

This year, 11 years since its inception, 572 tickets had already been sold by mid-March, Bicker said.

If a bidder spends more than $100 for a pie in a fundraiser, the winner can suggest a worthy recipient whose day could be boosted by a pie, and Bicker will deliver one.

Karen Ringler, a member of Hillsdale Cancer Crusaders, remembers one person in particular coming home after recovering in a nursing home and finding a homemade pie waiting for him.

"Sometimes a pie winner has had something going on in their lives and getting a homemade pie so brightens their day," Ringler said.

"Over the years," said Ringler, the raffles "have turned into more of an opportunity for him" to minister to people, she said. "It's a dear and heartfelt mission project for Dan."

Hundreds a year have touched many-a life

Bicker's outreach to the community has "touched so many lives," Ringler said. "He enjoys that so much."

Sometimes the winners will resell a pie because it is for a good cause, Bicker said.

The typical total of pies he makes per month is about 25. A capital "P" or multiple "P's" marked on a kitchen wall calendar keep track of output. He made 313 pies in 2013.

Before Bicker retired as a dairy farmer, he used to make pies at midnight. He still farms on 500 acres in Jeromesville with his four brothers, but now he can bake when the sun is shining, he said.

Bicker has never said no to baking a pie. He bakes them for churches, birthdays, funerals and special requests.

He delivers the pies himself and invariably receives a kindness in return, from a lunch or dinner invitation to a meaningful accolade.

"That pie tastes just like Mom's," one recipient told him.

'Good things happen when I deliver one'

"I'm blessed more," he said, than the person or group to whom he donates a pie. "Good things happen to me when I deliver one."

"Everybody gives me pie-baking ingredients," he said, even for Christmas. "I get most of them used up."

He also continues to add gifts of plaques and decorations about pies to his kitchen wall and has run out of room. A banner of thank notes is also strung across the wall.

It took him three to five years to perfect his wife's recipe, called "foolproof pie crust," he said, pointing out, the pie crust is what makes it unique.

The secret ingredient is vinegar.

He first learned to make five or six different kinds of pies, but over the years has extended his repertoire to 50 varieties of filling, from coconut cream to elderberry.

Name it, he can make it, even inside a brown paper bag

"You name it; I can make it," Bicker said, including fulfilling a Concord grape request. "I could list (the kinds) all day."

When he first used the tip of baking an apple pie inside a brown paper bag, he made sure a fire extinguisher was sitting on the table.

Beyond the recipe, what also gave him an advantage in developing his growing reputation, he said, is, "Some people think a guy can't make a pie."

Bicker can't imagine what would have happened if his wife hadn't left behind frozen pie crust, but she left him their honorary family as well.

Over the years, Sally Bicker babysat children, including nine from three families.

"The school bus stopped, and nine kids got off," Dan Bicker said.

Many of them remain close to Bicker, as do their grown children; he considers their children to be his own grandchildren.

He has a standing invitation to their homes on a rotating basis each Sunday.

"I'm not sure if they want me or my pie," he joked.

The husband of one of the now grown women his wife babysat carved in his woodshop Sally Bicker's pie recipe in her own handwriting − a special treasure.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Good things happen when Jeromesville's Dan Bicker sets to baking pies