George Washington Osborn, Jr., age 88, a resident of Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away Saturday, March 18, 2023, at the Mercy Hospital in Joplin, Missouri. George was born March 20, 1934, to George W. Osborn and Stella Cauthon Osborn in Bates County, Missouri. He was the sixth of seven children. George grew up on the farm and started farming when he was fourteen years old and proudly continued until he was eighty. He married the love of his life, Joanne Greer, on November 17, 1954.
He started his married life working for a ranch in Adrian, Missouri. In November 1959, they moved to Gardner, Kansas where he rented his own farm across the road from his widowed aunt so that he could take care of her. In those early years, he did what he could to take care of his family including digging graves. He did so well with the farming and soil conservation that he won several farming awards in Johnson, Miami, and Linn counties.
In 1967, he bought his own farmout side of Drexel, Missouri, (on the Kansas side) and moved his family there and started a large hog operation along with the farming. In 1988, he and Joanne moved further south to the Blue Mound, Kansas area where he enjoyed farming row crops and not worrying about pigs and cattle. George was a member of the St. John’s United Methodist Church in Ft. Scott. He enjoyed traveling with his wife, Joanne when the farming schedule allowed.
George was preceded in death by his parents and all of his siblings and his youngest son, Doug.
He is survived by his wife, Joanne, of sixty-eight years, his daughter, Ruth Benson (Randy) of Webb City, Missouri and son, Pete Osborn of Beaver, Ohio. Also surviving are two grandsons, Randall Benson (Stephanie) of Kansas City, Missouri and Jonathan Benson (Kari) of Kailua, Hawaii (USAF) and three great-granddaughters, Kathy, Alyssa and Clara of Kansas City, Missouri.
Rev. Jim Brackett will conduct funeral services at 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, March 22nd at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Burial will follow in the Memory Gardens Cemetery. The family will receive friends from1:00 P.M. until service time at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Memorials are suggested to the American Heart Association and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.
