Sally Ann Osborn

1935 - 2023

OSBORN, Sally Ann, passed away peacefully on December 4, 2023 at Henrico Doctors' Hospital. She was just a few weeks shy of her 88th birthday.

Sally is survived by her children, Gregory Osborn (Ellen), Matthew Osborn (Dawn), and Maria Osborn Howard, her four grandchildren, Aaron Osborn (Audrey), Ashley Osborn Kinsella (George), Philip Howard, and McKinley Howard, and her brother Elmer "Sam" Wolff. She is predeceased by her husband, Jim Osborn, and her brothers Arthur "Pudge" Wolff and Earl "Curly" Wolff.

Born Sally Ann Wolff during a snowstorm on December 29, 1935 in western Michigan, she never liked the cold. Moving to Virginia in 1981 with her husband's job gave her a chance to escape the long winters in Michigan that she used to tolerate only if there was a trip to Florida planned in the middle somewhere. After Jim retired, they spent several years living in Virginia during the colder months and in Michigan during the warmer ones.

Sally worked as a bank teller early in life, then later as a part-time sales associate at a bridal shop. But her passion was being a homemaker and she would proudly name that as her profession. She cooked and baked extensively for her family, making bread from scratch and even taking cake-decorating classes so she could create extra-special birthday concoctions.

She loved creative projects of all kinds. She was an accomplished seamstress. She dabbled in oil painting. She rearranged furniture and changed decor so often that her husband joked that he felt like he came home from work to a new house all the time. The house was always spotless, to the point that a real estate agent once wrote "Mrs. Clean lives here" in a description of a home that Jim and Sally were selling.

When she wasn't keeping up with the housework, she was in the yard tending to her plants and flowers. She especially loved roses, and at one point had a sizable rose garden. After she was widowed and condo living limited her gardening space, she took up bridge and enjoyed making new friends while playing cards.

Sally said in her final days that she was extremely grateful to have lived a wonderful life with a cherished husband and three healthy children, and was glad to have been given so many years to enjoy her grandchildren and welcome great grandchildren. She certainly loved and served her family well.

Visitation will be held at Fields-McKinley Funeral Home in Grant, MI at 1 p.m. Saturday, December 9, followed by a funeral service at 2 p.m. and burial at Ashland Center Cemetery.