Adelaide Osborne; put style into Marblehead homes; 97

She was 97.

Mrs. Osborne was a fixture in the historic district around Abbot Hall in Marblehead, where she lived for more than 50 years. People knew her for her personal, eclectic style, keen sense of humor, and talent for transforming 17th- and 18th-century homes and gardens.

"That's what she was all about - adding beauty to other people's lives," said one of her sons, Kurt Olson of Salisbury, N.H.

Mrs. Osborne was born in Kansas City, Mo., where she attended high school. Her father, who was British, sent her to school in England, where she graduated from Malvern Girls' College in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, in the early 1930s.

Relatives remember Mrs. Osborne saying that she "spent a lot of time on the continent."

They said she told stories about swimming the English Channel and becoming captain of the girls' basketball team in college.

During her time in Europe, Mrs. Osborne spent vacations at her family's ancestral home in Bridport, Dorset, surrounded by English antiques that introduced her to a lasting love for beautiful objects.

After she returned to the United States, she married and divorced. In the early 1950s she settled in Marblehead, where she married again in the mid-1960s and, with husband Frank Osborne, concentrated on raising her children.

When they grew older, Mrs. Osborne opened Cybele Interiors, a decorating business she ran from home from the 1970s until the 1980s. She was known for mixing formal and traditional pieces with homey colors and textures that created inviting rooms rich in unexpected detail.

Mrs. Osborne was "invested in making sure people's houses looked as beautiful as they wanted them to be," Olson said.

Relatives said Mrs. Osborne filled her home with antiques that were unique, like a chair that once belonged to Louis XVI of France in the late 18th century.

"Everywhere you looked, there would be another piece where you would ask, 'Oh, where did that come from?' and she would have a story for each," Olson said.

"We can go back and visit the four or five homes we lived in Marblehead, and all of them have a certain flair that she gave to them. She added something to all of those homes."

During the 1970s and 1980s, Mrs. Osborne and her husband lived in a former bakery that they transformed into a residence.

The home was featured on the cover of a special edition of "Better Homes and Gardens" in the late 1970s, relatives said.

During her free time, Mrs. Osborne used her needlepoint and embroidery skills to make rugs and pillows.

She found color inspiration in the sunset or the plumage of exotic birds, not in the colors provided in sewing kits. When she painted the picket fence at her last home in Marblehead, Mrs. Osborne chose a shade of salmon.

"She was never really into bright colors," said one of her daughters, Kristin Spinney of Bethany Beach, Del.

Relatives compared Mrs. Osborne's color schemes with Impressionist paintings because the colors were soft and there were no sharp contrasts or edges.

Mrs. Osborne first lived in Marblehead during the early 1950s, and remained a resident of that town until she moved to Oceanside in 2004 to live with two of her daughters.

Family members recalled her love for antiques, for her English ancestry, and for her Labrador retrievers.

She always presented herself with the same care as she took with her decorating, and wore high heels and blue jeans into her 90s, favoring flowing scarves and armfuls of jangling bracelets.

"The style didn't stop," Olson said. "She had the same sashay in her step, and she was concerned about the way her legs looked and if she recently had her hair done. It was important to her to look her best every time she went outside."

Her children enjoyed her legendary meals, which they said were influenced by her travels in France when she was younger.

Before her death, Mrs. Osborne asked that a line of poetry be carved on her grave marker: "She walks in beauty, like the night," written by Lord Byron.

Mrs. Osborne's husband of 20 years died in 1986. In addition to her son Kurt and her daughter Kristin, Mrs. Osborne leaves another son, Eric Olson of Salem; three other daughters, Hilary Meyers of Bedford, N.H., and Sharon Gray and Alixanna Olson, both of Oceanside; 13 grand- children; and 18 great-grand- children.

A memorial service will be held today at 11 a.m. in Waterside Cemetery in Marblehead.