It's all relative for the Osbornes



Family members hope the reunion continues forgenerations to come.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- Members of the Osborne family know how to keep tradition alive.
Every third Saturday of every August for the last 124 years, members of the Osborne family have gotten together for a family reunion. As many as four generations of the family converge on Boardman Park to spend the day reminiscing, eating, playing games and making plans for the next reunion.
The ages of those in attendance spanned 72 years from 11-day-old Alec Grzyb, who spent most of the day napping in a stroller, to 72-year-old Harold Miller. Miller can remember many of the previous reunions, but younger family members do not have to rely solely on oral history.
A section of one table in the rented park pavilion is covered with books containing the minutes and other documentation from family reunions of years gone by. There are also scrapbooks that detail the family's history.
Those in attendance are the direct descendants of William Henry Miller, who died in 1927 at age 86, and Mary Alice Osborne, who died in 1925 at age 74. The two had 11 children.
Nicholas Osborne, an earlier member of the family originally from England, was an early settler in the Mahoning Valley, moving here in 1804.
Notable names
Many members of the family have had an impact on the Valley and beyond. Among the names of note in the family are: Clyde W. Osborne, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge and prosecutor; Levi Osborne, who helped organize the Mahoning County Republican Party; Stan Miller, driver, bodyguard and presidential task force member to former President Reagan; and Jonathan A. Osborne, a 19th-century Trumbull County commissioner.
Debbie Larkin of Boardman, family member and secretary for the reunion, said the reunion usually draws about 80 people, with relatives coming from Michigan, Georgia and New Jersey. Most of the family members, however, remain in the Youngstown area. Only one family member still bears the Osborne family name.
The reunion location has moved several times over the years from the Canfield Fairgrounds to Mill Creek Park and to Boardman Park. It has been held in Boardman Park for about the last 45 years.
Reunion tradition
Larkin said the family reunion, during the 1950s, had shrunk to a mere 10 people in attendance. Organizers, however, were determined to keep the tradition going in hopes that interest would again increase.
"The organizers at that time were very tenacious, refused to give up and said, 'You know we are going to have this no matter what,'" she said.
Numbers eventually did increase, and Larkin said organizing the annual event now is almost second nature. Like the popular tennis shoe ad, she said, "We just do it."
Harold Miller said it is sad to reflect on those family members who made past reunions a success and have now passed on. Those feelings of sadness are offset only by the new faces of younger family members -- younger generations.
Larkin said it is those young family members she hopes will keep the reunion tradition alive. She said many younger members have begun to show an interest in the family history and past reunions, giving hope that future generations of the Osborne family will still meet the third Saturday of every August of every year.
jgoodwin@vindy.com

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