Louise Osborn

For Louise Osborn, showing care and love to others came naturally. A hardworking, talented homemaker with a gift for baking and a knack for showing hospitality, Louise found great joy in caring for those around her. She had a deep love for her family and friends and a faith which she cherished. Louise was a true example to her children and grandchildren. A beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend, she will be dearly missed.

Louise's story begins in the year 1919, a year most famous for its adoption of the 18th amendment, which launched that “great experiment” known as prohibition. Following the tragic events of the First World War, the nation would enter into a decade of growth and prosperity, marked by the rise of jazz, speakeasies and flappers, and the Roaring Twenties. For Peter and Mildred (Kintner) Dick in Columbia, Ohio, the year 1919 represented a great change for their family. One spring day, on April 6, 1919, they welcomed home a new baby, a daughter who they named Louise.

Louise spent her childhood on her family's cattle farm in Metz, Indiana and the Angola area. The second of eight children, she was kept busy throughout her early years caring for her siblings. As her mother was frequently sick, much of the responsibility for raising the younger children fell in Louise's hands. She developed a strong work ethic in her youth. She was responsible for helping to feed the hired hands, and spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking and doing laundry. Louise also attended Metz High School.

Louise opened an exciting new chapter in her life when she agreed to go on a blind date with a young man named Donald “Mike” Osborn. Mike was an employee at the hardware store in town. Louise knew immediately that Mike was somebody special, and began planning for their future together. As their romance flourished in the 1930s—in the midst of the Great Depression—money was tight for the young couple. Louise raised chickens, saving up enough money to buy furniture for them. When Louise was 18, on May 27, 1937, she and Mike were joined in marriage at a little chapel. They each had one friend stand up with them, and Louise wore a wedding dress that cost $9 dollars. However, the small scale of their wedding did nothing to diminish the joy the young couple felt at becoming husband and wife.

After their wedding, the two enjoyed a brief trip to a hotel in Jackson. They settled in Garden City, where Mike worked at Ford Motor company (and later at Wayne County). Five years into their marriage, they decided to start their family. Louise became the proud mother of five children, James, Barry, Kay, Bruce and Sue. She kept busy raising her family and running a daycare center out of her home. A marvelous homemaker, Louise loved to can vegetables, maintain her huge garden, and raise chickens. She won Homemaker of the Year of Michigan in 1954 and was fifth in the nation. She and Mike were proud of their home, which Mike built himself over ten years. Though the family struggled financially, with Mike often working two jobs to make ends meet, Louise was skilled in making a little go a long way. A wonderful cook and baker, she always had fresh cookies waiting after school, and spent every Saturday baking and doing laundry.

Louise always enjoyed the phrase “for better or for worse”, saying “I had the better and can do the worse.” She experienced a time of great sadness when her son, Bruce, succumbed to cancer at age 19. Louise was always a hard worker, and spent much time showing love and kindness to others. For twenty years, Louise worked for the National Bank of Detroit. She was always said to have lived elegantly, and showed endless hospitality. When Louise's children had grown and started families of their own, Louise was thrilled to become a grandmother. Though she was often in need, she made sure that each grandchild received a gift of $10 each birthday.

In her later years, Louise loved traveling with Mike. The two drove an Airstream trailer all over the USA, and enjoyed a tour of Europe and a trip to Hawaii, too. She was an active member of Berean Baptist Church, and valued her faith deeply. With her beautiful soprano voice and skill in piano playing, Louise enjoyed being in the church choir. Aside from church music, she loved Lawrence Welk and Broadway tunes. For the thirteen years that Mike struggled with Alzheimer's disease, Louise was loyal and devoted to caring for him, and showed great faithfulness in their relationship.

For Louise, nothing in life was more important than showing love and kindness to others. A strong, faithful woman who showed firm leadership and ceaseless hospitality, Louise was always more concerned with others than herself. Cherishing the simple things in life, like friends, family, and faith, Louise was deeply loved. A beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend, she will be greatly missed, but lovingly remembered.

Louise died on May 4, 2011 at her home. She was preceded in death by her husband, Donald “Mike” Osborn and by a son, Bruce Osborn. Surviving are 4 children: James (Dorothy) Osborn; Barry (Mary) Osborn, Kay Johnston and Sue (Greg) McClain; 12 grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren.

Learn more about Louise, view her Life Story film, and share in refreshments with her family and friends on Friday from 4:00 – 7:00 PM at the Life Story Funeral Home, Betzler-Kalamazoo; 6080 Stadium Drive, 375-2900 where services will be held Saturday at 10:00 AM. A luncheon will follow in the Life Story Center. Burial will take place Monday, 12:00 noon at Parkview Memorial Cemetery, Livonia. Memorial donations may be directed to Borgess VNA Hospice or West Michigan Cancer Center. Please visit Louise’s personal web page at www.lifestorynet.com, where you can archive a memory or photo and sign her online guestbook.