She helped garden club, church groups
Over the years, goals of the Garden Club of Inverness have been to preserve native plants, and to promote the love of gardening and flowers with local residents.
June Osborne, a former president, embraced that mission. She actively worked with other members to beautify and retain the rural atmosphere of the village.
In the 1970s, Mrs. Osborne led club members in organizing the club's plant sales, where each year they sold annuals as a fundraiser, as well as perennials from their own backyards.
"I can remember we'd be spreading trays of flowers all around the field house, and I would be dirt tired, and June would turn to me and say, 'Isn't this fun?'" recalls Rosemarie Kachik of Inverness.
Family members and friends reflected Monday on Mrs. Osborne's contagious laugh and her love of nature and flowers. The longtime resident of Palatine, and later Inverness, was 80 when she died on Thursday.
Mrs. Osborne grew up in Chicago and attended Morgan Park High School, then junior college. She married William Osborne in a double-wedding ceremony with her sister, Betty Hern, on Aug. 27, 1949.
The couple initially settled in Appleton, Wis., where William Osborne attended Lawrence College, before they moved to Palatine, where they would raise their three children.
Besides school activities, William and June Osborne actively participated in Christ Lutheran Church in Palatine before working with others to start a new mission congregation, All Saints Lutheran Church, in 1979 in Palatine.
Right from the start, its members envisioned the church to be a gathering place where they would worship through a variety of music and liturgy.
Over the years, the Osbornes worked in the church's Public Aid to Deliver Shelter program, as well as its Bible study groups and other social ministries.
The Osbornes also sought to broaden the music offerings during worship. They purchased a hand bell set for the church, which led to the formation of an adult hand bell choir.
"Any time we do something special with music, we always have the bells," says Pastor Jennifer Moland-Kovash.
On Monday, the hand bell choir played, only this time it was during a memorial service for Mrs. Osborne.
"She was a huge supporter of our church," Moland-Kovash adds. "She had a strong heart for justice, and she was a lover of people and music."
Mrs. Osborne was preceded in death by her son, Bill. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, William, as well as her two daughters, Elise (Ron) Wallace of Versailles, Ky., and Karen (Roger) Pope of Eau Claire, Wis., and four grandchildren.
Services were held previously.