Daughter to the late John & Harried Word. He is survived by her brother Rosco & Rose.
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From the Waukegan New-Sun 8/9/07
A longtime Waukegan woman known worldwide for her fancy hats and political involvement has died.
Wreather Osorio was a former entrepreneur, beautician and model who traveled around the world with popular singers and around the country with politicians. She died last week at age 95.
Osorio moved to Waukegan after graduating college in Arkansas in 1933. Upon her move he enrolled in beauty school, and eventually opened Wreather's House of Beauty Utica Street.
"She did hair for everybody," said her longtime friend, Dr. Mary Lacey. "She was the only person on the North Shore who could do a hair weave and you couldn't tell the (fake hair) from real hair,"
Lacey called Osorio one of the classiest and well-respected woman she knew.
Osorio also started a millinery business in Waukegan. Through her salon she became friends with singers Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie Cole, who also helped spread the popularity of her hats to other gospel singers.
Osorio was well known by entertainers around the country, Lacey said. There is even a rumor that she once dated Sammy Davis Jr.
Politically, Osorio was a Republican committeeman and an unsuccessfully for County Board in 1976. Through her work as a committeeman she attended four presidential inaugurations in Washington D.C. She even marched alongside martin Luther King Jr. during a Civil Rights march in Memphis.
But career accomplishments aside, it's the woman she was that should be best remembers, says her great-grandson Shawn Henderson.
Henderson said Osorio taught him integrity and honesty.
"She used to say 'if you let it come out your mouth and you say you're going to do it, do it,'" Henderson said.
Funeral services fro Osorio will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Shiloh Baptist Church on Genesee Street, in Waukegan. A wake will precede the mass.
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From the Waukegan New-Sun 8/9/07
A longtime Waukegan woman known worldwide for her fancy hats and political involvement has died.
Wreather Osorio was a former entrepreneur, beautician and model who traveled around the world with popular singers and around the country with politicians. She died last week at age 95.
Osorio moved to Waukegan after graduating college in Arkansas in 1933. Upon her move he enrolled in beauty school, and eventually opened Wreather's House of Beauty Utica Street.
"She did hair for everybody," said her longtime friend, Dr. Mary Lacey. "She was the only person on the North Shore who could do a hair weave and you couldn't tell the (fake hair) from real hair,"
Lacey called Osorio one of the classiest and well-respected woman she knew.
Osorio also started a millinery business in Waukegan. Through her salon she became friends with singers Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie Cole, who also helped spread the popularity of her hats to other gospel singers.
Osorio was well known by entertainers around the country, Lacey said. There is even a rumor that she once dated Sammy Davis Jr.
Politically, Osorio was a Republican committeeman and an unsuccessfully for County Board in 1976. Through her work as a committeeman she attended four presidential inaugurations in Washington D.C. She even marched alongside martin Luther King Jr. during a Civil Rights march in Memphis.
But career accomplishments aside, it's the woman she was that should be best remembers, says her great-grandson Shawn Henderson.
Henderson said Osorio taught him integrity and honesty.
"She used to say 'if you let it come out your mouth and you say you're going to do it, do it,'" Henderson said.
Funeral services fro Osorio will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Shiloh Baptist Church on Genesee Street, in Waukegan. A wake will precede the mass.
Daughter to the late John & Harried Word. He is survived by her brother Rosco & Rose.
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From the Waukegan New-Sun 8/9/07
A longtime Waukegan woman known worldwide for her fancy hats and political involvement has died.
Wreather Osorio was a former entrepreneur, beautician and model who traveled around the world with popular singers and around the country with politicians. She died last week at age 95.
Osorio moved to Waukegan after graduating college in Arkansas in 1933. Upon her move he enrolled in beauty school, and eventually opened Wreather's House of Beauty Utica Street.
"She did hair for everybody," said her longtime friend, Dr. Mary Lacey. "She was the only person on the North Shore who could do a hair weave and you couldn't tell the (fake hair) from real hair,"
Lacey called Osorio one of the classiest and well-respected woman she knew.
Osorio also started a millinery business in Waukegan. Through her salon she became friends with singers Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie Cole, who also helped spread the popularity of her hats to other gospel singers.
Osorio was well known by entertainers around the country, Lacey said. There is even a rumor that she once dated Sammy Davis Jr.
Politically, Osorio was a Republican committeeman and an unsuccessfully for County Board in 1976. Through her work as a committeeman she attended four presidential inaugurations in Washington D.C. She even marched alongside martin Luther King Jr. during a Civil Rights march in Memphis.
But career accomplishments aside, it's the woman she was that should be best remembers, says her great-grandson Shawn Henderson.
Henderson said Osorio taught him integrity and honesty.
"She used to say 'if you let it come out your mouth and you say you're going to do it, do it,'" Henderson said.
Funeral services fro Osorio will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Shiloh Baptist Church on Genesee Street, in Waukegan. A wake will precede the mass.
- - - - - - - - -
From the Waukegan New-Sun 8/9/07
A longtime Waukegan woman known worldwide for her fancy hats and political involvement has died.
Wreather Osorio was a former entrepreneur, beautician and model who traveled around the world with popular singers and around the country with politicians. She died last week at age 95.
Osorio moved to Waukegan after graduating college in Arkansas in 1933. Upon her move he enrolled in beauty school, and eventually opened Wreather's House of Beauty Utica Street.
"She did hair for everybody," said her longtime friend, Dr. Mary Lacey. "She was the only person on the North Shore who could do a hair weave and you couldn't tell the (fake hair) from real hair,"
Lacey called Osorio one of the classiest and well-respected woman she knew.
Osorio also started a millinery business in Waukegan. Through her salon she became friends with singers Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie Cole, who also helped spread the popularity of her hats to other gospel singers.
Osorio was well known by entertainers around the country, Lacey said. There is even a rumor that she once dated Sammy Davis Jr.
Politically, Osorio was a Republican committeeman and an unsuccessfully for County Board in 1976. Through her work as a committeeman she attended four presidential inaugurations in Washington D.C. She even marched alongside martin Luther King Jr. during a Civil Rights march in Memphis.
But career accomplishments aside, it's the woman she was that should be best remembers, says her great-grandson Shawn Henderson.
Henderson said Osorio taught him integrity and honesty.
"She used to say 'if you let it come out your mouth and you say you're going to do it, do it,'" Henderson said.
Funeral services fro Osorio will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Shiloh Baptist Church on Genesee Street, in Waukegan. A wake will precede the mass.
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