The body was found on the floor of the bathroom by Mrs. Osborne and a family friend, Robert Ryan of 2530 Kings Highway, Kammerer said. Ryan had been invited to the trailer by the Osbornes and the three had been talking only a short time before Osborne shot himself.
Osborne, a native of Winchester, Ky., sang country music over radio stations in Lexington, Shreveport, Nashville and Louisville during a career that started when he was 15 years old. He was reported to be the highest-paid performer in the radio and television field in Louisville.
For the past year Osborne had been singing over radio station WGRC. For five years before that he strummed his guitar and sang over station WKLO and he was due to return to that station in 10 days. William Spencer, general manager of WKLO, said today that Osborne had agreed to come back starting January 6.
As a recording artist, Osborne was best known for two hits--"My Heart Echoes", his first record and one that hit the best seller list in the country music field in 1947, and a few years later, "The Death of Kathy Fiscus", which sold 1,000,000 copies.
Osborne wrote the song while working on radio station WLEX in Lexington. He gave half the royalties to a memorial fund for the little California girl who fell in a well and died.
Like many other performers in the country and folk music business, Osborne played many benefits--for fellow performers down on their luck and for such causes as the March of Dimes.
Those who worked with him said Osborne's success was based on his "infectious personality" rather than on his singing voice, which was not a notable one.
His home town of Winchester never forgot him and once gave him a home-coming day. The key to the city was handed to Osborne by the Mayor, Dr. John A. Snowden, who was the physician who brought Osborne into this world.
He is still remembered in Winchester as the youngster who began "picking and singin" with a guitar that cost $4 and a "get-up" that featured the oldest overalls he could find and a floppy black hat.
Funeral arrangements for the country music singer are incomplete. The body is at the Owen Funeral Home, 2611 Virginia.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Helen Collins Wade, and two brothers, Preston Wade, Frankfort, and Waller Wade, St. Paul, Minn.
A well-known farm leader of the Choateville community, Mr. Wade was a director of the Franklin County Farm Bureau, and chairman of the Bridgeport PMA. He was a past master of Hiram Lodge and a member of the Baptist Church.
Funeral services will be conducted at two p.m. Tuesday at Rogers. The Masonic Lodge will conduct services at the grave.
Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, Ky
Survivors include three daughters, Mrs. Margaret Bowman and Mrs. Lottie Beasley, Franklin County, and Mrs. Jean Bowles, Covington; two sons, Robert and Charles Wright, Franklin County; a brother William Parker, Franklin County; 20 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and two nieces.
Services will be conducted at Harrod Brothers Funeral Home at 2 p.m. Monday by the Rev. John Chenault and the Rev. J. W. Blaes. Burial will be in the Frankfort Cemetery.
Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, Ky
Sunset Memorial Gardens, Woodford County, Ky
Note: Benjamin O. is the son of John and Liza Bates Wright.
Survivors, beside her mother, are, three daughters, Wanda Louise, and Ruth Ann Clark, Patricia Reed Terrell all of Frankfort, three brothers; Artis, and Kermit Thurman of Frankfort; Elmer Thurman of Little Rock, Arkansas; five sisters, Mrs. John Woolums, Mrs. John Buffin and Mrs. William Sewell all of Franklin County; Mr. J. C. Wilhoite of Woodford County, Mrs. Sherman Van of Seattle, Washington,; several nieces and nephews.
Burial will follow in the family lot in the Sunset Memorial Gardens. Pallbearers will be: James, Lester and John Woolums Jr., J. C. and Benny Wayne Thurman, Bobby Buffin. The Harrod Bros. Funeral Home will be in charge.
Note: Mrs. Terrell died November 8, 1961.
Survivors are one stepson, D. B. Logan, Lexington; one brother, Joe S. Mastin, Versailles, and several nieces and nephews.
Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Thursday at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home by the Rev. John Wallace. Burial will be in the Hillcrest Memorial Park.
Bearers will be James Mastin, D. B. Logan, Raymond Kayse, Thelbert Myers, Woodrow Kayse and Marion Mastin.
Other survivors are four daughters, Mrs. Christine Layer, Woodford County; Mrs. Wanda Jean Lippert, Pewee Valley; Mrs. Marilyn Monroe and Miss Glenda J. Redmon; two sons, Jimmy and Milton Redmon, at home, three sisters, Mrs. Mary B. Reed, Lexington; Mrs. Dorothy Dean and Mrs. Minnie Grimes, Versailles, and two brothers, Boyd Grimes, Lexington, and Virgil Grimes, Versailles.
Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Monday at Harrod Brothers Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Sunset Memorial Gardens, Woodford County.
The body is at the Hunton Mortuary, Long Beach, Calif., where funeral services will be conducted Saturday.
Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Mildred Lusby Colston; his mother, Mrs. Rose Colston; six sisters, Mrs. Mary Kennedy, Mrs. Kathileen Risk, Mrs. Elsie Hartung, and Mrs. Hazel Carter, all of Louisville, and Mrs. Alice Hockensmith, Frankfort; and Mrs. Rachel Snyder, San Luis Obispo, Calif., and a number of nieces and nephews.
Frankfort Cemetery, Frankfort, Ky
Survivors are her husband, Charles Redding; a daughter, Mrs. Tom Powers, Franklin County; a son, Charles Edward Redding; Franklin County; a sister, Mrs. Christine Singleton, Jefferson County; four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Services will be conducted at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Harrod Brothers Funeral Home by the Rev. Homer Brewer. Burial will be in the Redding Cemetery.
Redding Cemetery, Franklin County, Ky
|
|
 |
 Beulah Franks |
|