Harding University lost a beloved student, peer and friend this past spring break when freshman Ty Howard Osman Jr. was involved in a car accident on Friday, March 2, and passed away Sunday, March 4. To honor Osman, the student body came together for a candlelight ceremony on Monday night and held a memorial in chapel this morning.
“I first met Ty the night he was hypnotized, what a first impression,” said freshman Cara Speegle, who was a good friend of Osman. “Anyone who witnessed that event can understand what I mean. It took a couple of weeks, but after those first weeks of awkward mingling we became friends and were ever since. He made an astonishing impact on me in such a short time. We are both really loud and weird people, honestly, so we had so much fun just being silly together.”
Speegle said she was not so sure about the going to the candlelight ceremony after experiencing so much with Osman’s death, but said she was glad she attended.
“I wanted to remember and honor him with the rest of Harding,” Speegle said. “Once I got [to the ceremony], though, it was very focused on praising and praying to God, things that cannot be overlooked in his passing. It was very beautiful for us all to praise God even though at times we cannot understand his plan.”
Friends of Osman are also beginning their own service projects and dedications to honor him. Freshman Courtney Davis is beginning a fundraiser by selling bracelets, which will read “In Memory of Ty Osman II 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18” and will cost $4. Davis said the money will go toward building a memorial for Osman on campus and a mission effort in Honduras.
“I got the idea from when a girl in my class died unexpectedly last year and her parents gave us the bracelets and they were an awesome reminder to look down at our wrist and think of the memories I had of her and the influence she had in our lives,” Davis said. “Ty loved doing mission work, so any of the other money we earn, if we are lucky enough to make that much, will go to his church for mission work and for kids who can’t pay to go.”
Since Osman was a performer in TNT and Zeta Rho’s spring sing show, spring sing director sophomore Alexis Samuel said the show will be dedicated to Osman.
“At this point, other than just telling each other that this show is for Ty, we are all dedicating our lives and the way we carry ourselves to him,” Samuel said. “He was always the person to watch on stage. No one could watch him for more than 10 seconds without absolutely cracking up, including myself. If we put our hearts into his show like he did, then this could be one of the most outrageously funny and moving shows anyone has ever seen.”
Many students traveled to Osman’s funeral over spring break, which was held at Woodmont Hills Church of Christ in Brentwood, Tenn., on Friday, March 9.
According to freshman Grant Schol, who attended the funeral, the verse Psalm 73:26 was written on a wooden board placed over his grave. Osman tweeted the verse shortly before his death, which read “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”