Ever heard of the Apple Cup? It’s a 120 year old rivalry football game between the University of Washington Huskies and the Washington State Cougars. It would be surprising for two people from these intensely rivaled schools to share friends, meet, fall in love, and stick by each other through all of life’s curveballs… well… say hello to the Osgoods!
John and Michele Osgood both grew up in Seattle. Their respective families have deep roots in the area, and the Osgoods continue to make the trek north each year to visit. It was back in Seattle, at a party in 2006 that John and Michele were officially introduced. “We were actually surprised we hadn’t met before since we figured out there were other gatherings that we were both at but never crossed paths.” With a little digging, they found group shots from prior parties (yes, plural!) and sure enough, they were both there. “The old cliché “Timing is everything” really applied for us since meeting each other in previous years would not have led to anything as we were both in other relationships at the time.”
The timing was perfect and the connection was immediate. Thanks to a love of art and adventure, their relationship grew and in 2009 they were married. A few years later, Lucien (8) made his grand entrance. Michele is a breast cancer survivor, and was told that because of the chemo and radiation treatments, it would be nearly impossible for her to get pregnant. But with a bit of hope and good humor, the Osgoods never gave up, “As it turns out, we were both Jim Carrey fans and there is a scene in Dumb & Dumber where he turns the response that he has “One in a million” chances with the girl of his dreams, into the belief, “so you are saying there is a chance?” We laugh about it [now], but that was what we believed. We have seen proof in this life that things will happen despite the odds and Lucien is one more testament to this belief.”
Now Lucien is an incoming third grader at Montair Elementary School. He has multiple and varied interests, including LEGOs, making stop motion movies, Minecraft, hip hop dance and baseball. And following in his dad’s footsteps, drawing comic books is another favorite activity. Both Michele and John are active volunteers at Montair. Michele serves on the Auction committee and John gets into the classroom to teach the kids about art.
If the name John Osgood sounds familiar, it’s because last year John completely updated the front mural at Montair Elementary School. His contemporary murals can be seen all across the West Coast: how lucky are we to have one in our very own neighborhood?! As a professional artist, John has paintings in galleries all across the US. You can find some of his commissioned murals at the Microsoft offices in Redmond, WA, New Amsterdam Vodka and the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, and across the Bay Area. Before they relocated from Seattle, John and Michele ran an art gallery where they “exhibited emerging contemporary artists from the Pacific NW.”
As if Mom, volunteer and, as John puts it, “the marketing muscle behind Osgood Art” isn’t enough, Michele has been the Director of Marketing and Business Development for Simon Property Group for 14 years. It was an opportunity with Michele’s job that landed the Osgoods in California four years ago, and the accessibility to San Francisco and Los Angeles made the East Bay a good pick. Initially they were placed in corporate housing in Livermore, but wanted to find a permanent place to live. Michele’s GM recommended his own hometown of Danville. “We still remember that first evening we drove into town and had our first dinner at Revel Kitchen where we sat on the patio and watched as families strolled down the street and older kids biked around together. Not to get too gushy, but we couldn’t help feeling like we were on a movie set and we couldn’t stop smiling. This is the perfect town to raise a family.”
They picked an excellent spot right across the street from Montair, walkable to downtown and the Iron Horse Trail, where Lucien and Michele love to hike and take bike rides. Being new in town, finding a neighborhood that felt friendly and accepting was important, and they very quickly learned just how welcoming their new neighbors were, “Before we officially moved in, we were walking around town (John was wearing his WSU Cougar Hat) and a man stopped him to comment on his hat, since he was also a Cougar. After a short conversation together, we found that we had just run into our new next door neighbors and we have been friends ever since. We are grateful that our neighborhood is one where people know each other and we can look out for each other.”
By Alexandra Sullivan, Resident since 2017
Photo Credit: Kim Lind Photography