Elva May Osborn

Elva Osborn, 94 years old, went to be with the Lord during the early hours of the morning of February 25, 2012. She was at her home, where she wanted to be, when her Lord called her to Heaven. Elva was born on November 20, 1917 in Sabetha, Kansas. She was daughter of Lloyd and Hazel Tobie Atkinson and was the twin sister of Elmer Atkinson, who passed away in 1992. She grew up in and around Sabetha, Kansas, graduating from Fairview High School in 1936. After high school, she worked for a year at the Sycamore Springs Resort Center near Sabetha before going on to Huntington, Indiana where she briefly attended Huntington College in 1937. It was there that she met her future husband, Sam Osborn, while he was recruiting students to attend Huntington College, a United Brethren College. After a brief courtship, the two wed on December 30, 1938. To this marriage were born five children: Marcus, Helen, Milton, Mary and Merle. It wasn't long after that she left college to assist Sam in continuing his education at Huntington, where he graduated in 1939. After graduation their ministry spanned the states of Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Texas, and New Mexico. It was during their time in Illinois, that their first child, Marcus Clyde, was born in January of 1941. Having only had him for six months, he sadly passed away in July of 1941. Throughout the years of their ministry, Elva worked tirelessly by Sam's side and their dedication to the Lord was evident in the passion with which they served. Their first missionary ministry outside of Indiana, was on the Dockery Plantation in Hernando, Mississippi. During this time she gave birth to their first daughter, Helen, in 1942. In 1943 their second son, Milton, was born in Anderson, Indiana where Sam was preaching at Innisdale United Brethren Church. Their fourth child, Mary Hazel, was born in 1945 at Baird, Texas where they continued to spend endless hours working for the Lord. Upon arriving in New Mexico in 1947, and with the birth of their last child, Merle, in 1948 at Hatch, New Mexico she and Sam moved to Las Cruces where she returned to school at New Mexico State University and obtained her Elementary Education Degree in 1953. There, at NMSU, one of her professor's informed her that she would never make a good teacher because of her soft-spoken nature and over-abundance of kindness and compassion. She graciously accepted the criticism and went on to teach elementary school for twenty five years, disproving her skeptical college professor! Her first teaching position was at East Picacho Elementary, where she taught for her first year. She spent the last 24 years teaching at Fairacres Elementary School. Her time teaching was marked by an evident love for her students. She often had over 40 students in a class, yet they all became proficient in math and reading. Most all learned to speak English by the end of their first grade year. She often recalled a story about one of her students named Francisco, who after listening to all the other students in the class tell about their families got up and told, in English, about his father and his work on a farm. (" The cat goes meow, meow. The dog goes bow wow. The cow goes moo moo. And Francisco's father said, "Come on Francisco, it is time to go to work!") She was loved by everyone that knew her