Osmond son recalled at service
March 9, 2010 - 12:00 am
PROVO, Utah -- Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son was remembered at a funeral Monday with fond words, laughter and music from his famous singing family.
Michael Bryan's uncle, Donny Osmond, appealed to God in an opening prayer. "Bless my sister," he said, breaking into tears. "Bless my sister and her family."
Bryan was memorialized by six of his seven siblings as a lighthearted person and a deep thinker who had a brilliant sense of humor and a kind, generous heart.
"He was a man of his word. He wasn't a talker, he was a doer. He was reliable," Bryan's sister Rachel Blosil, 20, said .
Police in Los Angeles have said Bryan appeared to have died Feb. 26 from a suicide after jumping from the eighth floor of an apartment building. An official cause of death is pending autopsy and toxicology tests.
Police said Bryan left a note but have provided no details about its contents.
One of five children adopted by Marie Osmond, Bryan previously used his adoptive father's last name, Blosil. Records from Utah's 4th District Court showed a judge had granted him an October 2009 petition for a legal name change.
Osmond and Brian Blosil divorced in 2007 after two decades of marriage. She has three other children from marriages to Blosil and first husband, Stephen Craig, whom she divorced in 1985.
In 2007, Osmond said her son had entered a rehabilitation facility but did not disclose what he was being treated for.
About 450 mourners attended Monday's services at a chapel near the Provo temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including church President Thomas S. Monson.
Bryan was a first-year student of apparel manufacturing at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and had planned on a career in retail marketing and design, according to a biography of his life read by the family's Henderson-based church bishop, Gary C. Milne.
The life sketch, a part of Mormon services, described Bryan as a hardworking, self-motivated person who loved sports, the arts, traveling and a good meal . An accomplished musician, Bryan played five instruments and wrote his own songs. He was dedicated to service and since attending Foothill High School in Henderson had been working with special-needs children, Milne said.
Jeanne Donadio, Foothill principal, said in an e-mail, "The faculty and staff were saddened by the untimely death of Michael. He was always a delight and we were pleased to have him be a 2009 graduate."
Marie Osmond expressed her gratitude for the outpouring of support since her son's death. She acknowledged the presence of Bryan's birth mother, "who gave me the greatest gift."
The service ended with a traditional Mormon hymn, sung by Marie Osmond and her famous brothers: Alan, Merrill, Jay, Wayne, Donny and Jimmy.
Review-Journal reporter James Haug contributed to this story.