Navy veteran Gairy Osburn of Pineville recently shared some of his life experiences.
He was born Oct. 5, 1938. He said the reason his name is spelled with an I goes back to his birth. He was delivered at home by a country doctor. At the time ball point pens were not in widespread use -- people had to dip their pens in ink. When the doctor filled out Osburn's birth certificate, he spelled his name "Garry," but the "handlebar" on the first R didn't show up, so it looked like an I. Osburn said he never knew his name was spelled with an I until he joined the Navy and they got his birth certificate. At that time, it was too late to change it, he said.
Osburn grew up in Newton, Ill., with two brothers and one sister. He joined the Navy on Dec. 14, 1956. While stationed in Oregon with the Navy, he met his wife and the love of his life, Ginger. When they first met she was engaged and he was so disappointed because she was the only girl he had seen whom he liked. Then she broke off her engagement because she found out the man's parents paid for the ring. Osburn began spending time with Ginger, and she offered to help him wash his car one day. He knew he had to keep things moving, so he asked her out to a movie. From then on they were a couple.
"Once I met her, I never wanted another (woman)," he said. They married March 15, 1958. They had three sons and two daughters, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
In May 1958 Osburn was aboard an aircraft carrier, Bonhomme Richard, until December 1960. He got out of the Navy for a couple of months and then re-enlisted in February 1961. He went to the East Coast and went aboard the USS Putnam. Shortly after, they picked up survivors from the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. In July 1962 he was aboard the USS Coney and they took part in the blockade of Cuba.
After that, Osburn spent two and a half years as a base military policeman at Dam Neck, Va. Then he went to Long Beach, Calif., aboard the USS Bennington. He was officially discharged in May 1970 for medical reasons.
He went to the Dallas, Texas, area for 14 months, then moved to Pineville in July 1971. He worked for the O'Brien Egg Company in Pineville for 12 years. Then he started his own secondhand furniture company, Ozzie's Bargain Barn.
"Not a lot of money in it but a lot of work," he said.
For 16 years he was circulation manager for the Big Nickel. He retired in June 2001.
His wife died Oct. 13, 2013 after 55 and a half years of marriage. Before her death they traveled extensively throughout the U.S. from 2002 to 2007, he said.
Osburn now attends the Noel Senior Citizens Center a couple of times a week.
General News on 12/01/2016