Rebecca Osborn papers

Rebecca Rumford McNees Osborn (1921-2014) was born on September 12th, 1921, the third daughter of Wendell George McNees and Helen Bye McNees in Chester, Pennsylvania. She had three sisters, Mary, Margaret, and Alice. Osborn graduated from Media High School in 1939 and was co-captain of the hockey team and editor of the newsletter (yearbook). She received her bachelor's in English Literature with High Honors from Smith College in Massachusets in 1943, and a master's of Social Work from Ohio State University in 1972.

Osborn started her career teaching English at the Moravian Seminar for Women in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, from 1946 to 1948. She spent some time in Montana from 1948 to 1955, working for the United States Forest Service and then teaching English literature and composition at Montana State College. Then she and her family moved to East Lansing, Michigan, and then back to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She held a variety of positions in the social work and counseling fields. She worked in the Family Service Association of Wyoming Valley, the College Misericordia in Dallas, Pennsylvania; Wesley Village in Interman, Pennsylvania; Medical Home Care Corporation in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; Catholic Social Services in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; and the Family Service of Montgomery County in East Greenville, Pennsylvania. In 1980, she opened her own private practice. She was also the executive director of the Lehigh Valley Mental Health Association in Allentown, Pennsylvania, from 1967 to 1970. She was a prolific writer, and her articles about marriage, family, and psychology were published in a variety of magazines and journals. She also wrote and published poetry.

Osborn was a member of Unami Friends Meeting in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania. She helped organize the United Friends School in Quakertown and served on the board from 1985 to 2000.

She married Joseph Osborn in 1948 and they had three children, Julie, Rachel, and Frank. Following Frank's birth, Osborn expereienced post-partum psychosis and was hospitalized three times at the Friends Hospital in Philadelphia. She writes about this experience in her diaries and personal essays. In 1984, Rebecca and Joseph divorced. Osborn retired from her private practice in Wilkes-Barre in 1986, and then joined Abington Quarterly Meeting. She passed away on August 13, 2014.