Ann Bannerman Osborne

in Greensboro on the evening of Monday, January 24, 2022. A service will held at 10AM on

Friday, January 28 at Starmount Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, with the Reverend Dr.

Charles Lee officiating.

Ann was born in Wilmington, NC on May 24, 1927, just three days after Lindbergh

landed in Paris, to the late Charles Washington and Maude Bannerman. As an only child, she

spent most of her youth in the town of Dunn in eastern North Carolina. There, despite the

spectre of the Depression and a world war, she lived what she always said was a relatively

peaceful small-town Southern life. By 1945, however, at age 18 and with war’s restrictions over,

she was poised to fly.

She attended Women’s College (now UNC-G), obtaining a degree in Medical

Technology, and then moved on to Raleigh, where she worked in the NCSU infirmary. And it

was there that she would meet the love of her life. Tom Osborne was from the tiny mountain

community of Sparta, NC in Alleghany County, a place he once publicly stated had almost

nothing materially but did offer the foundation for family love. It also had a set of values that

insured a chance of success in tough times, and Ann soon bought into the western NC way of

life. They married September 10, 1949 and experienced 42 happy years together until Tom’s

death in 1991.

In 1950, they settled in Greensboro, and it would remain Ann’s home for 70 years. Over

time she was Tom’s rock, helping to raise three children while also providing support as he, a

prominent city official, steered Greensboro through some of its most tumultuous modern times.

Yet she never lost something that seemed to come from her eastern NC upbringing,

and that was her sense of grace. Grace is one of those cherished traits that helps add a little

quality to living, and she had it in abundance. It is a welcoming type of thing, and for her any

friend was always welcome in her home and in her world. Once through the door, you were

family.

And she could sing. A charter member of Starmount Presbyterian Church, she was in

the choir until she was 80. She then took her talents to Spring Arbor, where she was often the

most melodic one in the room. Most likely, in her new home, she still is.

Ann is survived by her three children : Zack Osborne (Nancy) of Greensboro, Debi

White of Bryson City, and Dr. James Osborne (Nanette) of Greensboro. In addition, she was

“Nana” to six grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, with more on the way.

The family would like to thank the staff at Spring Arbor in Greensboro who so capably

and kindly cared for her over the last three years. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages you

to consider donating to Authoracare of Greensboro, Greensboro Beautiful or Starmount

Presbyterian Church.

With acknowledgements to a famous hymn, it can be said that grace - and

gracefulness - has led Ann Osborne home. May we all be as fortunate.