Passing of a high school team mate

The following is the obituary of William “Bill” Wesley Osborne III – March 16, 1951 – July 5, 2018.

http://www.zimmerfuneralhome.com/obituaries/William-Bill-Wesley-Osborne-III?obId=3144460#/obituaryInfo

Bill died of esophageal cancer at the age of 67, and attended Upper Dublin schools far longer than I did. I wasn’t part of his crowd, but we played baseball together in our sophomore and junior years. He was a baseball prodigy – with a strong pitching arm and a good bat, also. I was the 2nd string first baseman; and, oddly enough, Bill played first when he wasn’t pitching!

We weren’t socially connected, and we didn’t share many classes, but Bill was part of my story list since the late sixties. When Bill pitched and I was on first, I was deathly afraid of the call for a pick-off play to first. The distance from the mound to first isn’t that great, his “move” was perfected, and his arm very strong, so the ball came at me like lightening.

Following graduation, I lost track of Bill. He played ball in college, and I thought that I heard that he was drafted into the St. Louis farm system, but read that he played in the Milwaukee system. Not bad.

I didn’t really hear from Bill again until we both became part of the Upper Dublin Class of 69 Facebook Group. His lifestyle and interests were truly interesting to me – and I even tried one of his recipes a few years ago.

He seems to have lived a good life, and had a lot of people in his corner. We weren’t close, but even after 4 days, I’m still thinking of him. 67 is relatively young, in my thinking. There is still a lot to do………, and I’ll still think of Bill, and tell my bland little story.

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