Cecilia Osborne, 92, Was Known for Musical Gifts

Cecilia Osborne of Mariner's Way in Edgartown died Friday, June 14, at Windemere Nursing Home. She was 92.

Mrs. Osborne was born on Oct. 26, 1909 in Baltimore, Md., one of 10 children of Mathias Wloch and Bernice Bardzikowska. Her father served as a desk sergeant on the Chicago police force and as a detective for the B&O Railroad, while teaching English to German and Polish immigrants in the evenings. He later worked for Ocean Spray in Massachusetts.

Mrs. Osborne grew up in Mansfield and worked as a jewelry solderer and as a seamstress in the Boston and Worcester areas. Her hobby was creating music by singing and playing the piano. In 1934, she married Everett Osborne, an employee of the Massachusetts Metropolitan District Commission. After the death of her husband in 1982, she lived with her daughter in Rockville, Md., and then accompanied her to Edgartown in 1994.

Mrs. Osborne's Island legacy extends further with her husband's great-grandfathers. One was Edgar Marchant, founder of the Vineyard Gazette, and the other was Abraham Osborn Sr., an Edgartown whaling captain and owner of whaling ships.

She leaves as survivors her daughter, C. Marie Thompson and her son in law, Dr. Donald Thompson and a grandson, Perry Thompson, all of Edgartown and Rockville, Md.; a brother, Louis Wloch of Spencer, and a sister, Irene Serwa of Baltimore, Md. She also leaves many nieces and nephews.

Her funeral mass was held in St. Elizabeth's Church, Edgartown on Monday, June 17, 2002. The gifts to the altar were presented by Dr. and Mrs. Paul Lock. Interment in the New Westside Cemetery, Edgartown, was followed by a luncheon at the Farm Neck Golf Club. Arrangements were by the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home in Oak Bluffs.