I welcome 2022 with this Blog about my dear friend Eddie Osborne! Many of you personally know Eddie and those of you that don\u2019t will want to meet him. Thirty two years ago Eddie and I met at a friend\u2019s house at about 1:00 a.m. Jim and I were playing a game called Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of Lounge Wizards off of a floppy disk when through the front door appeared Eddie and another friend of mine. Eddie became a friend that evening! I wasn\u2019t living in the \u2018burg then but when I would return to visit I would see him, usually at Players Restaurant where he was the waiter extraordinaire!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A self-described farm kid, Eddie was born and raised in rural Missouri. In 1969 he graduated with 18 classmates from Chilhowee High School. That same year the Viet Nam War was raging and like many young men of that era he was faced with the very real possibility of being drafted into the army. The first year of the draft lottery his number was 3 and to preclude induction he joined the United States Navy in January of 1970. His first duty station was Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Located eighty miles north of Seattle, Washington he remembers it as a beautiful Island but a very small community. One year later he was transferred to a ship being built in Long Beach, CA with the eventual homeport of Norfolk, Va.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His life underwent a profound change in 1976 when a friend asked him to be her Lamaze coach! That experience helped him realize at that point he no longer wanted to be a part of an organization that took people\u2019s lives and applied for discharge as a conscientious objector. His application was approved and he was honorably discharged in October of 1977.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stayed in Norfolk working in restaurants and as a stage hand at the Virginia Opera Association. Making friends in the community he joined the Ghent Arts Festival Committee serving in many capacities for the Festival. He soon became the Maitre\u2019d at the renowned Hotel Chamberlain and was good at it and liked it. Finding his niche in food service he also served on committees for the Harbor Fest which saw the Tall Ships arrive in 1976, and also the Waterfront Festival where he met Ray Charles. He says that these events were more gentile and sophisticated than Woodstock with cocktails not cocaine. These events hosted over 100,000 people every year and Eddie served as stage manager and announcer and realized he could perform!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eddie says that he was born in Missouri but grew up in Virginia! However in 1984 he returned to Missouri and quickly moved to Warrensburg. In 1990 he thought about returning to Virginia but because of the words of two very influential women in Warrensburg he stayed \u2013 both said, \u201cplease stay, this town needs you!\u201d<\/em> and stay he did. Many know him through his employment in the hospitality industry at Heroes, Players, the University of Central Missouri and Powell Gardens, others will know of him from other aspects of his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1996 Eddie developed, produced and hosted an internationally listened to radio program for KCMW (later KTBG) Radio located at the University. Named THE ECLECTIC CAF\u00c9, <\/em>the show aired for seventeen years. His programming included music that many people had never heard before \u2013 noting that it was music for the Mind, Feet, Heart and Soul. I remember often seeing the group Saffire-the Uppity Blues Women perform in Madison, WI and when I told Eddie about them he shared he had worked with them early in their career and already had their CD\u2019s!<\/p>\n\n\n\n