We regret to advise that Lieutenant Colonel Cyril Osborne, C.E., D.I.S. (Ret'd) died on 12 July2005 at home in Goderich, Ontario.
Born in Calcutta, India, Cyril spent his early life in India. He served for the most of the Second World War in Iraq and Persia (Iran) on the route for the shipping of supplies to Russia. Nearing the end of the war, Cyril worked for the Basra Port Directorate for four years as a Hydrographic surveyor on the Shatt-el-Arab. In 1946 he established the first shore-to-ship pipeline for the export of oil from the newly developed fields in Kuwait.
Cyril emigrated to Canada from the United Kingdom in 1949 and joined the Royal Canadian Engineers shortly after. During his sixteen years as a member of the Canadian Army, he contributed to the mapping of the Canadian north, attended the Royal Military College of Science in the U.K., and represented Canada at meetings in the U.K., U.S., and Australia with the Canadian Defence Staff.
Cyril retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1966 and for the next twenty years worked as a Civil Servant. He spent two years as a senior Lecturer and Consultant in Public Administration with the Institute of Development Management, a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded project in Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. He was commended by Sir Seretse Khama, the President of Botswana, and the International Red Cross for his management of the first Red Cross Seminar held in Southern Africa. In 1988 Cyril retired to Goderich.
At Cyril's request, there was no visitation or service. Interment of ashes will take place at a later date. A tree will be planted in memory. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Maitland Valley Medical Centre in Goderich.