Forget about ever having a bad day in Kim Osborne’s presence.
One of her patented, droll asides would have you reduced to guffaws in about a second.
In the next second, you might find yourself corralled into karaoke … where being off-key didn’t count, because it was, well, karaoke.
And if she throttled up the ATV, forget it. It also didn’t count, unless one of those wheels (at least) caught air at the cresting of the hill.
But that was for fun.
If it got serious, and you found yourself in need of help and nurturing, the Morgantown woman would also be at your side – in one true heartbeat, her cousin Autumn Pope said.
“Well, that was Kim. She was just there for everybody.”
Family … no matter what
It pains her, referring to her cousin in past tense like that, she said Monday.
On Friday, a positive identification was made of the human remains found near Indian Creek Road back in November.
They belonged to Osborne, 47, who had been missing since Mother’s Day.
Shortly thereafter, police arrested her former boyfriend and domestic partner, Joseph Nevera, 51, and charged him with first-degree murder.
The body was found in a shallow grave close to the Osborne family property, which made the act even more cruel, Pope said, since family was the foundation and the epicenter of everything that mattered in Kim’s life.
“Spaghetti Sundays” were legend in that family, Pope remembers.
Her nana’s house. Thirty people and one giant bowl of pasta, in one small kitchen.
“We’re Italian,” Pope said. “That’s what we do. Family.”
On that Mother’s Day when Osborne was last seen, she was on her way to her mom, Rose’s, house – the woman known as “Aunt Sis” to legions of kids, grandkids and cousins.
“She’d bring groceries and she’d just always look in on her,” Pope said.
Pope couldn’t shake a chilling intuition when it became clear her cousin wasn’t going to show, on that holiday of all holidays.
“That wasn’t like Kim at all. I said to myself, ‘She’s dead.’”
For now …
In the hours after the identification, Pope launched a GoFundMe account for funeral costs.
“I knew I couldn’t bring Kim back,” she said, “but this was something I could do for Aunt Sis. I’m just trying to ease her burden.”
Her aunt, she said, is a proud person who would never ask for help. A niece can, though, she added.
For particulars and to donate, visit www.gofundme.com.
Type “autumn pope” in the search field to call up the fundraiser, named “Support Kim’s Family After Tragic Loss.”
‘Everybody loved her’
The coming days won’t be easy, she allowed.
A person the family knew, and who was part of the proceedings for a good while, is now facing trial for Osborne’s murder.
The family is grateful to the police and the detectives who did their work and updated Aunt Sis daily on their progress, Pope said.
Pope is also grateful to the hunter who discovered the remains, she said. He was very gentle about that day during the one phone conversation they were able to have.
For now, she said, she’s working hard to make all the good memories percolate forth.
There’s Kim, the doting mom to her own kids and her dogs (who acted like kids because she loved them and spoiled them so much).
There’s Kim, the Karaoke Queen and star bartender at the various places she worked in town.
“She’d give you her last dollar if you needed it. Everybody loved her.”
