By Peggy Lee Kennedy
He was discovered deceased in his Sportsman camper behind the Talking Stick Café in Venice around 10:30 am Friday June 15. The LAPD said he was just a transient, which is not true. Bud lived in Venice for more than 30 years. He was no more a transient than anyone else is on this planet and it is wrong to classify people like that – as if they have no worth.
Bud was the name all of his friends knew him by, but he was born Myron Van Osdall Jr. He was aVietnam combat veteran. He graduated from San Diego State and worked with computers when they took up a whole room. He also drove cab for 5 years in Los Angeles.
I was told that he was coughing the night before he died and he had been complaining of stomach pains. One of the people who employed Bud doing odd jobs had been calling him for days with no answer. Sad that he died like that in his motor home without calling anyone for help or going to the doctor. May be he was too sick.
His miniature pincher,named Dog, is now in the pound for 30 days so that some next of kin Bud had not spoken to for twenty years has a chance to claim her before she can be adopted. There is already a taker to adopt her so it seems cruel to poor Dog to make her stay in jail for 30 days after her friend died.
Bud had lots of friends, besides Dog, and I was one of them. I really got to know him over ten years ago when Bud and his long time friend, Douglas Waters, would park in the Rose Ave parking lot in their Winnebago motor home. Douglas was a World War II veteran and an accomplished pianist. Sadly, he died of a heart attack a few years ago. And once upon a time there were three of them:Bud, Douglas, and John. Douglas and John Jenkins met in 1966. Bud came along in the late 70’s or early 80’s. After losing housing in the Venice canals, they lived in an old truck with a tree house and a trailer pulled from behind. Bud was in the tree house, Douglas and John in the trailer.
After John became terminally ill, they all (Douglas, John andBud) moved into Lincoln Place apartments with the help of Carol Tantau and St. Josephs. John passed away six weeks after they moved in, but Douglas and Bud lived there for 12 more years until forced into a buy-out. That is when they bought Bertram, the Winnebago. Bud and Douglas lived in Bertram for years together. I believe after Douglas passed away, Bud just never felt right.
Bud did odd jobs in Venice, including at Big Bill’s and Just Tantau. Years ago Bud and Douglas used to make special origami boxes with recycled magazines that Just Tantau used for gift boxes and people still remember those boxes. Lilly, from JustTantau, recently gave Bud some extra cash so he could buy a remote control helicopter, which he said he always wanted. He flew it at Penmar Park until he got it stuck on a roof. He had to sort of break in so he could climb up to get it, but the helicopter broke when he was getting down. Bud said that flying the helicopter at Penmar Park gave him the opportunity to reconnect with some old friends from his past and it was good.
There will be a memorial held for Bud and Douglas at theTalking Stick Sunday, July 8 at 12:30pm. Carol Tantau said she will give box making lessons in memory of Douglas. b
Categories: Homeless/RVs, Obituary
Sounds like you’ve helped a good friend pass. Wish I coulda been at the box-making class. Hope you are well
Leslie Harvey Pruitt