Elizabeth York Osborn, age 96, passed away on Monday, July 25, 2016 at her daughter Dr. Carol Ann Osborn's home in Salt Lake City, UT.  Elizabeth, better known as Betty, was a long time resident of Huron, SD.

Family and friends are invited to gather for a graveside Memorial Service on Sunday, October 9 at 2:00pm at the Riverside Cemetery with Rev. Alexander Haines officiating.  A celebration of Elizabeth's life will follow from 3:00 to 5:00pm at Top Floor Events, located at 31 4th Street SE, across from the U.S. Post Office.

Elizabeth (Betty) was born February 2, 1920 in Mt. Vernon, NY to Andrew Joseph and Lucy York Vosler and was the second of three daughters. She grew up in Briarcliff Manor, NY, half a block away from the Congregational Church, which her family attended and her father was the church treasurer. As a young girl, Betty was described as spirited and irrepressible, qualities she retained her entire life.

After high school, she attended Barnard College in New York City and graduated with a B.A. in English Literature. Like many young women at the time, Betty joined the war effort; she worked as a drafter on the Hellcat bomber for Grumman Aircraft.

During her last year in college, Betty met a handsome, soon-to-be Second Lieutenant Robert K. Osborn on a blind date to a Christmas party at the Waldorf Astoria. Sixteen months later Betty was traveling cross-country to San Francisco, where Robert was stationed. They were married May 30, 1944 at Old St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, CA.  Within days, Robert shipped out on the USS Castor to the South Pacific.

When WWII ended, the young couple moved to Huron, where Bob joined his mother to run the Osborn Clothing Company. Betty, the big city gal, fell in love with this small Midwestern town and the people embraced her openness, kindness, intelligence and indomitable spirit. Betty called Huron home for the next 62 years.

Betty raised nine children.  She also welcomed her children's many friends into the family home. With so many youngsters and teenagers running in and out of the house, she often thought of it as Huron's Grand Central Station. During these years Betty touched a generation of young lives with her love of learning, kindness and wisdom.

Betty's life was turned upside down when she contracted polio in the summer of 1953. She spent the next year recovering in St. John's Hospital and learning to walk again with the help of Helen Buchanan, a dedicated physical therapist who touched many lives in Huron.

During her life, Betty joined her husband in the Catholic Church, where she loved to sing in the choir. Betty was active in many aspects of Huron's civic life, which ranged from her work with the women's education organization , PEO, to the more fun-loving Red Hat Society.  Betty was particularly proud of her time on the board of the South Dakota Memorial Art Center located in Brookings. For fun, she loved to bike, swim, garden paddle her canoe on Lake Byron, pick wild asparagus with her children and share early morning coffee with her friend Molly Burke.

Betty loved to meet new people. In her book of life, a stranger was just a friend she hadn't met yet. One English stranger, J.L. Carr, who briefly taught at Huron College, became a great friend. They shared a love of all things English and Betty later collected Carr's self-published penny pamphlets and lithographs. She also worked with the Experiment in International Living organization to bring a group of Japanese schoolgirls to live with local families. The group's leader Tomohiko Yamamoto became a longtime pen pal.

Betty's outgoing nature fit well into her and Bob's involvement in South Dakota's business, social and political life. Together they hosted many gatherings of friends and associates at their home, including prominent politicians of their time who they also counted as friends – Sen. George and Eleanor McGovern, Gov. Richard and Nancy Kneip, Sen. Hubert and Muriel Humphrey, Sen. James Abourezk, Sen. Tom Daschle and Harvey and Anne Wolman.

Throughout her life, whenever Betty had a free moment she would dive into her one guilty pleasure – books. Literature and language were Betty's joy. She loved reading, a good turn of a phrase, a competitive game of Scrabble and her book club.  She shared this passion for books and words with her children and grandchildren, starting out with books like Madeline, One Morning in Maine and Blueberries for Sal .

As much as Betty loved living in Huron, she never lost her connection with her East Coast roots.  She instilled in her children a love of America's early history and introduced her family to places she enjoyed as a child, especially Maine. She shared her childhood summer traditions of beach combing and seafood with her own children, and kept them connected to their eastern cousins, aunts and uncles.

Betty and Bob filled their later lives with travel, gardening, surviving South Dakota winters, swimming at the Nordby Community Center, hosting their friends and visiting children and grandchildren.  Betty never let life get boring. Yet, her favorite time of day was the early morning where in the peace of a new day dawning she would connect with her many friends, writing a letter or chatting over a cup of coffee. After she lost her 'Bobby' in 2006, Betty spent the next 10 years with her daughter Patty Osborn and her family in Camarillo, California and her daughter Carol Osborn in Utah, where she continued to have many adventures

Left to honor Betty and remember her vivacious love of life and kindness are her nine children: Sheldon Osborn, Robert Osborn, Jr., Janet Osborn, Mary (Wayne Wetherell) Osborn, and John (Sue Fleck) Osborn, Dr. Carol Osborn, Victoria (Erik Kingston) Osborn; Patricia (Mark Reilly) Osborn, Thomas Osborn.  Her fifteen grandchildren include Sara Osborn, Andy Osborn, Mark Osborn, Patty Textor, Andrew Wetherell, Stephen Wetherell, Michael Wetherell, Eliel Hindert, Elizabeth Hindert, Thomas Reilly, Danny Reilly, Jeremy Fleck, Jossef Osborn, Brien Osborn, Ela Osborn, RuiSha Kingston, plus seven great-grandchildren: Alyce, Betty, Laura, Clinton, Isabella, Elliana, and Evan.  Elizabeth was preceded in death by her father and mother, her husband Robert K. Osborn, her two sisters Margaret MacKillop and Janet McGuire.

The Osborn family would like to extend their deepest gratitude to Betty's long-time caregiver and friend, Lecenia Longinos, for the love and support she provided to Elizabeth in the last years of her life.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Huron Public Library in memory of Elizabeth.