Bud Osborn was a poet, community organizer, and activist in Vancouver"son
Background
Osborn was born as Walton Homer Osborn III in Battle Creek, Michigan to Patricia Osborn (née Barnes) and Walton Homer Osborn World War II He spent his childhood in Toledo, Ohio, where his father, who had been a pilot and German prisoner in World World War II, was a reporter for the Toledo Blade. His mother, who also served in the United States military, reportedly married seven times.
Career
His poetry commented on poverty and homelessness in Vancouver. Walton Osborn committed suicide when Bud Osborn was three years old. As a child Osborn saw her get raped by a stranger whom she brought home from a drinking establishment.
At 15, he attempted suicide by taking Aspirin.
Osborn remarked that he was an athlete in high school. lieutenant was there that he began to read and write poetry.
He entered Ohio Northern University but dropped out after two years. They moved to his wife"s hometown, the New York city, but the marriage failed.
He started using hard drugs.
In 1970 he published his first chapbook of poetry by the Toronto They ended up in the Osborn got arrested for stealing books to support his heroin addiction and on one occasion almost died of a drug overdose. Years later, with the help of a Roman Catholic priest he overcame his heroin and alcohol dependency. In 1997 he met Ann Livingston, with whom he had a romantic relationship, and who was involved in running an illegal supervised drug injection site.
Together they founded the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.
In 1998 Osborn was appointed to the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board, where he advocated for legal safe injection sites, working closely with Member of Parliament Libby Davies. He and Livingston organized the display of thousands of white crosses in Oppenheimer Park, representing the people who were dying in the Insite, the only legal supervised injection site in North America, was opened in the in 2003.
After Insite was opened, Osborn shifted to opposing gentrification of the He died on 6 May 2014 at the age of 66 after being hospitalized for pneumonia and a heart condition, and was remembered at a street memorial attended by 200 people.
Membership
Following his prolonged struggle with heroin addiction and alcohol dependency, Osborn became a founding member of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and advocated for the creation of a legal supervised injection site.