Patrick Stephen Osso, known as “Pat,” 94, died May 17, 2019. He was a resident of the Powhatan Nursing Home in Falls Church.

Pat was the first surviving male son of Italian immigrants, Stephano and Antonetta Osso. He was born at home in the mining town of Lilly, Pennsylvania on August 6, 1924. In 1942, at the age of 17, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and as soon as he had graduated from high school, Pat joined the Navy. He did his basic training in Norfolk, Va. and served on the USS Texas in the Mediterranean. Suffering an injury in charge of gunnery and during firefighting, he was sent to Portland, Maine for R & R, where he met his wife-to-be, Dorothy Yvette Dulac. They were married in Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif. before he would be sent to Hawaii to begin training for the Naval invasion of Japan.

After the Navy, Pat worked as a professional photographer at Hecht’s, then Lansburgh’s Department Stores in Washington, D.C. in the advertising department.

The family later moved to Richmond, Va., where Pat worked to support his family while going to college and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Richmond Professional Institute (RPI), now Virginia Commonwealth University. Upon graduation, Pat became a professor at RPI and established his own photographic studio in Richmond, Osso Photography. Pat later taught at the Brooks Institute School of Photography and Santa Monica College and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Pat is survived by daughters Jeanne Osso with partner Stephen Smith of Arlington, Va. and Annette Osso and her husband David Michaelson, of Barboursville, Va; grandchildren Marianne and husband Tony Powell of Lynchburg, Va.; Owen Lawson and wife Teresa of Clifton, Va.; Joseph Woolson in Welches, Ore.; Daniel Michaelson and partner Quinn Philiposian in Charlottesville, Va.; and Sarah Michaelson and fiancé John Tillar of Arlington, Va.; nine great-grandchildren and other family members.

A memorial service with military honors will be held at 3 p.m. on August 30 at Twiford Colony Chapel in Manteo with Rev. Philip Glick officiating. The family will scatter his ashes in the waters of the Outer Banks, upon his request. This is where Dad spent many memorable years boating, fishing and vacationing. Nags Head is also where, after Pat recently returned to the East Coast, he and Jeanne spent time in his beautiful retirement home on land he had purchased almost 40 years ago.

Twiford Funeral Home, Manteo is assisting the family with arrangements. Condolences and memories can be shared at www.TwifordFH.com.

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