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David Osborne Obituary

We lost David J. Osborne sometime in the early morning of June 3, 2013. A few hours before, he complained via text to me that he had called me several times. He said he worried that he was "persona non grata". I texted him back, telling him that I had been in Florida. I suggested we go to the Reggae-on-the-River concert this summer. It was too late. I learned a few hours later that he had died.

Dave was in the middle of a jury trial. He was in the midst of defending a client against charges of child abuse. His investigator was Robbie Wharton. After trial, Dave and Robbie went to see their client at the jail in order to prepare for the next day's trial. They continued to prepare at Dave's home until 8:00 p.m. that night. They made arrangements to meet the following morning at Starbucks to continue preparing for trial. When Dave didn't show up that next morning, his long-time investigator, Robby Wharton, went to his home and found his body.

Dave was a public defender, appointed by the Court to defend the most despised in our society. He gave his life to and for his clients. He defended and saved the lives of many of our citizens. He was most proud that he convinced a jury to spare the life of one man who the state was trying to execute.

David James Osborne was born on April 1, 1956 to James and Katie Osborne in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is survived by his only sister, Jane Frydenlund, of Floodwood, Minnesota. He loved miniature trains as a boy. One of his granddads had been an engineer.

His dad was managing editor of the Grand Rapids newspaper. His mom, Katie, had been one of its first female reporters. She quit so that she could raise Jane and Dave. Dave went to a "free school" and never graduated from high school. He was proud of his GED and displayed it proudly on his law office wall. He was proud of his clear and cogent writing which he credited to his parents and their life of letters.

Dave's best friends in Grand Rapids, Michigan were Kimbo and Jim Reed. In 1980, he graduated from Michigan State University, a student of philosophy and political science.

In 1981, he moved to California, with his sweetheart, Diane Meconis. She was accepted into the Hastings School of Law at University of California in San Francisco. Dave got a job at The College Avenue Burrito Shop. A year later, he was accepted into the University of Santa Clara School of Law. He said he wasn't smart enough to get into Hastings, so he went to Santa Clara, with one of his best friends, David Michmerhuizen, who moved out from Michigan to live with him.

When I was told by my girlfriend not to bother coming home, Dave offered his couch. When his next door neighbor, Ben O'Mahoney, had his apartment burned by his crazy roommate, Osborne, O'Mahoney, Michmerhuizen and I all moved to a locked, iron door neighborhood in downtown San Jose. That house, or the mattresses where the people lived below it, caught fire. The fire started, perhaps, by firecrackers thrown in the floor heater, investigated by fire inspector Piper, continued to spark Dave's fascination with explosives. Osborne barely survived first year final exams after catching double pneumonia. I finally took him to a doctor for antibiotics.

He eventually moved with me to Felton, California. We lived with a fellow, Randall G. Binks, III, also known as White Cloud. Dr. Michael Freeman of Ben Lomond would commute with Osborne to law school that year and became his friend.

In 1985, his last home during law school was a cottage in San Jose behind the house of Doug Bird and Stewart Wilson, lawyers with the Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara County. They also volunteered for The National Lawyers' Guild. Dave helped found the University of Santa Clara County Chapter of The National Lawyers' Guild. The Lawyers' Guild at that time observed and represented protestors arrested during Presidential campaigns of the day. A few months before he died, he planned with me to establish a National Lawyer Guild Chapter in Redding to advocate for Native Americans here.

Dave's next love was a radical lawyer in San Jose, Constance Carpenter. He loved her passion for justice, her crazy ways, her celebrations of life and love of tequila. Her law partners, Dan Mayfield and Jeff Lake were his good friends.

Somehow, Dave graduated from the University of Santa Clara School of Law. He loved Ed Steinman's Civil Procedure and Alan Sheflin's Forensic Persuasion classes. His photographic memory and razor sharp intellect somehow substituted for class and study, and Dave graduated from the University of Santa Clara School of Law and passed the California Bar exam.

He followed me up to Redding, California to work for Frank J. O'Connor, the Shasta County Public Defender. Steven C. Kennedy, Bob Willie, Greg Parker, Brian McNally, Erin O'Toole McNally, Gary Roberts, Daphne Wilson, Bill Malloy, Doug Gardner and Jeff Gorder all worked with him at the office. Gary Roberts once accused him of stomping on Gary's toe. Dave enjoyed playing practical jokes on Gary, sending envelopes with white powder and wrapping Gary's porch with crime scene tape. Gary said Dave Osborne was one of the three reasons he left Shasta County. After Frank O'Connor left the Public Defender's office, he and Dave Osborne then shared an office across the street from the courthouse for many years.

Dave loved Berkeley, the Mediterranean Café, the record stores. He loved Oakland and Mama's Royal Café. He loved San Francisco and the Schezuan Restaurant. He fantasized about moving back, going back to college to study Arabic, Islamic and Middle Eastern studies.

He wanted my wife, Monica, to find him a mosque in Chico where he would be welcome. He loved the beauty of the Koran.

In earlier years, Dave dug African history and music: King Sunni Ade in the 1980s and Ali Farke Toure and Hugh Masekela in the 1990s. He always appreciated guitar, especially Leo Kottke. He himself played the bass. He loved to play and listen to Motown like The Temptations or The Neville Brothers and The Wild Tchoupitoulas. Of course, he loved the Reggae music of Bob Marley and the Wailers and Toots and the Maytals.

Twenty years ago, I would often find Dave after work at the Squire Room having a beer with buddies, John Webster and Frank O'Connor.

Dave loved and doted on his friends' children, Corbin, the son of his best friend, Rich, Mary Ellen, the daughter of his sister, Jane, and especially Savannah, his God-daughter, my daughter. He wanted us to dedicate a room in our home so that he could build a huge train track and train set for our kids. We never got a chance.

He often shopped for these kids and thought of them and tried to imagine what kinds of things they might like. He collected Barbies, and went shopping for Barbies, and had Barbies at his home that he never had a chance to give to my daughters before he died.

After moving to Redding in 1986, he found a new true love, Christy Zink. She was a park ranger and Fish and Game warden. They lived together on the Sacramento River, his friend John Webster living in a cottage on the property, where they brewed beer.

After that he lived with Al Myrtle, and became involved in Kenpo karate with Scott Halsey and his best friend, Rich.

Dave used to love to tell stories, funny stories about himself and others. He never lost the relish for repeating these. He loved to tell about the one time that he met my dad when my dad showed up with a T-shirt that said "Get a lot of the beach while you're young!".

In his last ten years, his secretary, Sharon Rader, became like a sister, and a mom, to him. He complained constantly to her about his health, but seldom saw a doctor or changed his habits. She cursed him daily after his death.

Dave's mother, Katie Osborne, lived into her 90s. She died just a few years ago. She would continue to come and visit him for several weeks each year, until she broke her hip, and could no longer tangle with Dave's huge dogs. Dave lived for these visits each year with his mom, complained about them, complaining that he would have to get his house clean and presentable for her visits. His mom would tell Dave that she wasn't buying any green bananas.

Every Christmas, he would fly to be with his mom and his sister to Grand Rapids, to Brownsville, to Virginia, to Minnesota. Osborne loved the music festivals in Northern California. He loved to camp all weekend in the fairgrounds while drum circles play all night, people sold acid outside his tent flap, youngsters offered to buy his fried eggs, or sell him sticky balls or ganga spaghetti. He looked forward to another summer of Reggae-on-the- River and the World Music Festival in Grass Valley. Dave loved to backpack with me and Frank O'Connor in the Trinity Alps. Dave's poor health slowly caused him to postpone and only dream. He never gave up dreaming of doing these things that he loved.

A public memorial will be held on June 28, 2013 at 4:00 PM at the Courthouse in Redding. Please contact me, Eric Alan Berg, at my Facebook page for further details about the Courthouse memorial and public wake to be held later that day.

Published by Redding Record Searchlight on Jun. 18, 2013.
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Memories and Condolences
for David Osborne

Not sure what to say?





Vary Late Condolences To The Family, I Knew Dave Back During My High School Years. I Bought A House On Adams Street In Grand Rapids, Michigan.... David Was My First Room mate.... Actually He Was The One Who Showed Me The House Was For Sale. I Bought It! He And His Dog Moved In. I Had To Sweep Those Hard Wood Floors Daily For Dog Hair.
Maybe After Six Months He Was Gone, I Never Knew Where He Went.
His Obituary Is Very Detailed, Now I Know. I Will Never Forget, Me On My Motorcycle, With Him On The Back, Going To Look At That House For Sale. Once Again, Condolences.... William Kilgore Sr.

Bill Kilgore

Friend

April 17, 2021

Super Dave, you introduced me to cilantro and you were always kind to me no matter how obnoxious I was. I still owe you $3.00 and will remember you forever. Love, Miss Vicki

March 22, 2014

I grew up with Dave in Grand Rapids, Mi.
We met when we were 2 or 3 years old.
Truly one of my oldest and greatest friends.Just not enough space here for all the memories. Godspeed Osborne

Kim Marsh aka Kimbo

June 26, 2013

Once in a while in life you meet a person who is a true "character", and that was Dave. I always enjoyed working with him. He read the most interesting books, saw the most interesting movies and always had something witty to say. He was a good man and an excellent lawyer. His loss will be felt forever.

Erin Dervin

June 24, 2013

Dave will always have a special place in my heart. He was good to me, and one of the funniest and sharpest people I have ever known. I'm so very sorry to hear he's no longer with us. He was a good man.

Tiffany Wallace (Liddell)

June 21, 2013

Dave was a true friend, the kind you keep for life if you can. Quirky, always entertaining, and always ready to be there. Will be missed mightily.

Benedict O'Mahoney

June 20, 2013

I just want to say "Goodbye for now, dear friend, thanks for being my friend." God Bless You and Rest in Peace. Your good friend, Carla.

Carla ODonnell

June 20, 2013

All I can say is I am going to miss you.

Sharon Rader

June 19, 2013

Dave: You taught me a lot and I respected you immenseley. Work was never work when you were there!

Lori Meeink

June 18, 2013

Dave was a good-natured, happy man. And sharp as a tack. perceptive and witty. He was his own man and he will be missed.

Cara Beatty

June 18, 2013

Dave's unexpected visits to my office asking advice about vacuum tube sound systems or to purchase a couple tubes or parts will be missed! I'll never forget his reaction upon learning that his neighbor was well known in the world of vacuum tube sound reproduction and was sitting on the largest stock of vacuum tubes north of Sacramento. - Former West Street neighbor and friend in the field of vacuum tube sound reproduction.

Norman Braithwaite

June 18, 2013

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