The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Horse-drawn hearse leads animal lover to grave

Parade to mark Memorial Day in Lebanon
6:01 p.m.
Lebanon updates law banning vicious dogs
5:59 p.m.
Emergency response team offers training
5:57 p.m.
4-H Club helps erect flag pole at Bentley Woods
5:55 p.m.
City honors life of Lebanon marshal
5:47 p.m.
> More headlines

By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer 6:48 PM Monday, January 9, 2012

MIDDLETOWN — His last ride — the 2.5-mile trek from the funeral home to the cemetery — was a reflection of his life, his family said.

Richard “Dick” Osborne, a former member of Antioch Shrine where he rode with the mounted patrol, was carried from Wilson-Schramm Spaulding Funeral Home to Woodside Cemetery in a horse-drawn, 100-year-old hearse.

The procession from Roosevelt Boulevard to 14th Avenue to the cemetery took about 45 minutes.

The black hearse — with glass side windows, black curtains and two silver lanterns — was led by two Percheron draft horses. One of Osborne’s daughters, Melodie Rickard, a blanket over her lap, sat next to the carriage’s driver, Bob Skelton.

Osborne, who worked in hot strip maintenance at Armco Steel for 46 years, retiring in 1994, died Thursday, Jan. 8 at his Germantown home where he and his wife, Nancy, owned a family farm. He was 80.

Rickard and her brother, Mike, said their father frequently mentioned that his last wish was to ride in a horse-drawn hearse. Initially, they said, they thought he may be kidding, but as he grew older, he was more adamant about his wish.

His daughter told him: “I promise you daddy we will get that for you.”

She said the hearse would have made her father, an animal lover, “very happy.”

Her brother called it “a special day.”

The hearse, valued at about $25,000, is owned by Bob Baird, who said it’s used for funerals about eight times a year. The rental price, he said, is negotiable.

Funeral Director Ron Spaulding said it was the first time he had used a horse-drawn hearse in his 35 years in the business. He said some families request special music, readings or to buried with their favorite sporting good.

He called the hearse “one of the most unusual requests,” and when the family asked about it, he said: “There’s no reason we can’t.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

Share this article