Rheta Yvonne (Beaver) Osborne died peacefully on Friday, April 29, 2022, at the age of 87 while a resident of Teague Nursing & Rehab in Teague, Texas. A visitation will be held Friday evening, May 6th from 6 pm till 8 pm at Capps Memorial Chapel. A funeral service will be on Saturday, May 7, 2022, at Kirvin Baptist Church in Kirvin at 2:00 p.m. Interment will follow the service at Woodland Cemetery near Kirvin.
Rheta was born on October 23, 1934 near Robert Lee, Texas. She was the oldest of seven children. Rheta spent much of her childhood and school years in Big Lake, Texas, where she met and married her husband and true love, Leon. They enjoyed 55 years of marriage and adventure together.
Rheta was strong willed, determined, and hard working. As a member of the Kirvin Baptist Church, she was active for many years in the Sunday School and Vacation Bible School programs.
In 1967, Leon took a job in Alaska. Rheta, who was never afraid of tackling hard jobs, sold most of their belongings, packed her six young children into a Volkswagen Bus and drove to Alaska to make a new home. While residing in Anchorage for ten years, Rheta worked briefly at The Anchorage Daily News, where a young and not yet famous Bob Ross also worked. In 1976, she moved to Wasilla, Alaska and built a new home with the help of their three youngest sons. In 1983, Rheta and Leon moved back to Texas to be closer to their roots and Rheta’s aging parents. In the 1990’s, she worked her way up from security guard to Head of Security at the Big Brown power plant in Fairfield. She loved gardening, and until it wasn’t physically practical for her anymore, there was always a vegetable garden and blooming flowers in beds and pots all around her home.
Mrs. Osborne was preceded in death by her parents, Ricia (Bagwell) and Willie Beaver, her husband Leon Silvertooth Osborne, and her six siblings: Edmond Ray, Helen Lee, Myrtle Glenda, Billy Leon, Jimmy Frank and Kenneth Malcolm.
Rheta is survived by her children: Dolores Ann Patras and husband Jim, Linda Faye Peters and husband Richard, Stanley Leon and wife Lillie, William Lynn and wife Konnie, Douglas Wayne and wife Nani, and Jimmy Dale and wife Eileen, one sister-in-law, Deanna Beaver, 16 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren.
