Eloise Osborne Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

Eloise Eckhardt Osborne finished the race on July 18, 2022, after a brief illness. She was born on February 27, 1939, in Montague County, TX. As a child, her family moved often. At the age of 10, Eloise and her siblings were placed in the Waco State Home after being abandoned by both parents. All three were adopted just before Christmas in 1949. It was the best Christmas present any of them could have ever imagined. Eloise grew up in Wortham, Texas and graduated from Wortham High School where she was a majorette. She was a promising ballerina and kept her pointe shoes. The girls were always fascinated by those shoes! She attended Navarro Junior College where she majored in English and was a Senorita on the dance team. At the end of her first year, she met the love of her life, Bud Osborne, and the two married on January 24, 1959. They spent their honeymoon on the road driving 365 miles to Alpine, Texas. Eloise supported her husband while he attended school on athletic scholarships. He always said she was the reason for his success while in college. Bud and Eloise came back to Corsicana and their family grew to include two daughters. Eloise attended college by taking correspondence courses, attending night school, summer and Saturday classes to obtain her Bachelor's Degree and teaching certificate. All while working full-time and taking care of her family. After graduating from college, Eloise taught 4th grade for many years. It’s hard to find a former student who did not love having her as their teacher. She wasn’t afraid to hug, and she had high expectations for them because she believed they could do anything. Throughout her career as a teacher, Eloise taught at Travis and Bowie Elementary in Corsicana. She made many friends there – those friendships lasted to the end. She was so blessed to have gotten to spend time with many of them this past December. After retirement, she went back as a Reading Interventionist at Navarro Elementary for a year. Eloise fiercely loved her family and friends. She enjoyed traveling and reading, sometimes reading 5 novels in a week. Bud and Eloise attended Northside Baptist Church for many years where she helped with the church’s Meals on Wheels program. She often talked about the fun she had cooking and preparing meals with her church family. Over the past few years Eloise had some health issues, making it necessary to move to Chandler, TX to be close to her girls. When Bud passed away last May, her youngest daughter and her son-in-law moved in to care for her. She provided a lot of entertainment during this time. In her last year she had grown extremely fond of television shows about zoo animals. She had a blast visiting the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, TX., and could tell you many things about almost every animal there. Her daughters were able to make many great memories in her last year and are so thankful for the extra time they had with her. She had an immense amount of patience, a great sense of humor, a great sense of style, and a lot of spunk. We will miss her dearly. Eloise was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, her parents, her sister Alice Reed, her brother John Dean Eckhardt, her in-laws Don and Sarah Holloway and Henry and Ella Osborne, and brother-in-law Pete Osborne. She is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Vicki and Jim Capers, and Sonya and Brad Burnett, nephew Robby Osborne, niece Angie Glover, sister-in-law Betty Eckhardt, and many cherished friends and neighbors. The family would like to thank her sitters, or as Eloise affectionately called them, her “keepers” for their love and support. Thank you, Doris Stephenson, Jeannie Sisk, and Darla Allensworth, for allowing us the comfort of knowing she was being taken care of when we could not be there. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to The Hospice of East Texas. A memorial service to honor her life will be held Friday, July 29, 2022, t 10:00am at Northside Baptist Church in Corsicana.