Marie Osmond

I am a Marie Osmond fan big time so when this tragedy happened, I was interested. After reading about Michael (see article below) I felt more of the family's pain at his loss.His funeral was in the Provo/Orem Utah area, which I consider to be my second "home town".
Here is Marie being comforted by President Monson


. At the end of the article, it states that Marie and Donny have continued their stint in Vegas. They are doing it for Michael. I would love to go see them perform.
The casket...the reality.


Marie Osmond's son: 'Too tender-hearted for this world'
By Ben Fulton
And Ellen Fagg Weist
The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 03/15/2010 09:42:56 AM MDT

http://www.sltrib.com/features/ci_14670693

If stuck in the back seat of a car, Michael Bryan would joke for hours with siblings and friends rather than complain. Give him a hot, dirty job on a construction site, and he would seek you out one year later to thank you, once more, for the opportunity.

A deep thinker who was often quiet and unobtrusive, all the young man needed was a spot in a conversation to offer a joke that would have everyone laughing.
Bryan, the 18-year-old adopted son of Marie Osmond and her second husband Brian Blosil, was all that and more, according to those who knew him.

That was before Feb. 26, when he jumped eight floors to his death from his Los Angeles apartment, while newly enrolled at the Fashion Institute of

Design and Merchandising.
Thanks to the iconic status of his famous mother, the youth's death has sparked ugly headlines and speculation by entertainment reporters, bloggers and Web commentors. That seems a haphazard, tragic memorial for Bryan, whom longtime friends and acquaintances characterized as a classic example of the cliché "still waters run deep."

Those closest to him haven't broken the silence requested by his mother, who was photographed weeping during the Monday funeral service at a Provo stake center near the Mormon temple, attended by Thomas S. Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Alan Nierob, Osmond's Los Angeles publicist, said his client seeks silence as she and her family grieve. Osmond returned to the stage of Flamingo Las Vegas with her brother Donny the day after Bryan's funeral.

"The way Osmonds survive is we keep singing, and that's what we want to do tonight. I know my son would want that," she said from the stage, according to an Associated Press report. Members of the Osmond family contacted by The Salt Lake Tribune -- including his uncle Jimmy, his cousins Don Jr., Nathan and Aaron -- declined comment or didn't

Marie Osmond watches as the casket of her son Michael Bryan is taken from a chapel after his funeral in Provo on March 8, 2010. Bryan, 18, died Feb. 26. (AP Photo/George Frey)return e-mail or phone queries. In a phone conversation, Stephen James Craig, the sole child of Marie's first marriage to Stephen Craig and the oldest of her eight children, declined comment out of respect for his mother's wishes. Bryan's father, record producer Brian Blosil, didn't return Tribune calls.

Adopted as a newborn in 1991, Bryan and his seven siblings lived through Osmond's and Blosil's March 2007 divorce. Some seven months later, Bryan entered rehab.
"He shared with me that he had some substance-abuse issues, but I can't remember if he talked about those before or after he entered rehab," said Dave Wilbur, a Saratoga Springs music instructor who taught Bryan bass guitar. "I'm a recovering alcoholic myself, so I was very sympathetic about listening."

The outlines of Bryan's personality, and the possible motivation for his suicide, are discernible only from anecdotes and respectful suppositions by those close to the families of both his mother and father.

What emerges is the portrait of shy young man who had little trouble enjoying life, even if he as an adolescent he struggled with depression. Next to his suicide, the most shocking announcement to many was news of his October 2009 legal name change from Michael Brian Blosil to Michael Bryan. Granted by a Utah 4th District Court judge, the petition deleted his adopted father's surname and apparently altered the spelling of his given middle name to become his surname.

In an attempt to grieve away from the media spotlight generated by the high-wattage presence of the Osmonds, the Blosil family held its own memorial Sunday, the day before the funeral.

"For anyone to insinuate anything negative about the two separate services is flat-out wrong," said Alan Hawks, a friend of the Blosil family, who attended the Sunday memorial. All comments about the Osmond family at the service were completely positive, he said.

Bryan spent his formative school years in Utah County, attending Cascade Elementary and Canyon View Jr. High School up to 10th grade at Orem High before moving with his family to Henderson, Nev.

He played football in the Orem City League team with his father, also a football coach, said Lisa Hatch, who worked 23 years alongside Marie, most recently as vice president of the singer's popular doll company.

Hatch, whose two children grew up with Bryan and his siblings, remembers his youthful excitement visiting Disneyland. By tradition, the park provides security so celebrities and their children can bypass crowd lines for amusement rides. Staying out late without their parents, Bryan and Hatch's children decided to stand in line like everyone else.
"I'd never seen anyone so excited about being in line for a ride at Disneyland," Hatch said.

Noting Osmond's Dec. 9 broadcast appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" last year, Hatch said she found the media "agenda" regarding Bryan's suicide extremely distasteful. DeGeneres thanked Osmond for "her support of equal rights" during the broadcast, after which the singer, acknowledged that her adopted daughter Jessica Marie was gay.
"I couldn't love her more," Osmond told the studio audience. "She's just the greatest person. All my kids are great. How do you not love your child? I don't understand that."

Bryan had a penchant for exotic foods, and took both drum and bass guitar lessons at Orem's Modern School of Music in the years before he enrolled at the Los Angeles design school.
"He was really talented," said Wilbur, his former music instructor. "He could take almost any challenge you threw at him. He was a great kid, but seemed conflicted back then. He had some issues with his parents that he talked about during lessons. But what kid doesn't have issues with his parents?"
Hawks, who owns a construction company, remembers Bryan's notable work ethic.

Many Utah County friends approached him about possible construction jobs for their children, but Osmond's and Blosil's son proved to be a good hire. In fact, he turned out to be one of the hardest-working young adults Hawks has ever met. "You can't find 15-year-old boys who put in 12-hours days like he did without wincing or complaining a single time," Hawks said.

Thinking about what Bryan might have gone on to achieve is what makes his suicide such a tragic paradox for his friends. "He simply made an error in thinking," Hawks believes. "Knowing Michael as I did, I'm sure he said to himself afterward, 'Now why did you do something like that?'"

Though his parents' divorce caused "some strife" in the family, as most divorces do, Hawks speculates Bryan was simply trying to figure out who he was when he changed his name late last year.
"There was some bumping of heads when he was younger, but people need to understand that was coming to an end completely," Hawks said. "I can't emphasize enough that he loved both his mom and dad. Teenagers go through struggles. Sharing his feelings and emotions was probably his weak spot. He was probably too tender-hearted for this world."
bfulton@sltrib.com; ellenf@sltrib.com

Here is another article, with more details about the funeral...

Marie Osmond's Son Remembered At Utah Funeral
PROVO, Utah (AP) ―
http://cbs2.com/entertainment/Marie.Osmond.son.2.1546649.html
Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son was remembered at a funeral service Monday with fond words, laughter and music from his famous singing family.

Michael Bryan's uncle, Donny Osmond, also appealed to God in an opening prayer.

"Bless my sister," he said, breaking into tears. "Bless my sister and her family."

Bryan was then 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, struggling to express herself through tears. "He knew my hopes, he knew my dreams, my secrets, things that nobody knows. He was my best friend."

Police in Los Angeles have said Bryan died Feb. 26 from an apparent suicide after jumping from the eighth floor of the Metropolitan apartment building. An official cause of death is pending the results of an 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, however, show a judge had granted him an October 2009 petition for a legal name change.

Marie Osmond and Brian Blosil divorced in 2007 after two decades of marriage. She also has three other children from marriages to Blosil and first husband, Stephen Craig, whom she divorced in 1985.

In 2007, Marie 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, who offered words of comfort to the family.

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, Nev.-based church bishop, Gary C. Milne.

The life sketch, a traditional part of Mormon funeral services, described Bryan as a hardworking, self-motivated person who loved sports, the arts, traveling and a good meal — from sushi to Peking duck and Italian pastas. An accomplished musician, Bryan played five instruments and wrote his own songs. He was also dedicated to service and since high school had been working with special needs children, Milne said.

In sharing their memories, Bryan's siblings painted a portrait of a close-knit family, where laughter and music — along with whipped cream fights in the family kitchen and other games — were often present, with Bryan at the center of the fun, despite his sometimes quiet manner.

"He was an intricate part of our family," said Stephen Craig, 26, the eldest of Marie Osmond's children." Each member of our family and every person here is better for having met him."

In somewhat of a jest, each of Bryan's siblings proclaimed themselves to be their brother's favorite.

"My brother Michael loved me the most," said 7-year-old Abigail Blosil, who drew laughter from the congregation as she launched the friendly, family competition. "My brother wrote a song about me that said I made him very happy. See, he did love me the most."

In brief remarks, Marie Osmond expressed her gratitude for the outpouring of support and prayers she said she's felt since Bryan's death. Marie Osmond expressed pride in all of her children and acknowledged the presence of Bryan's birth mother, "who gave me the greatest gift."

"Thank you for those beautiful 18 years," said Marie Osmond, who had not planned to speak at the service.

The service ended with a traditional Mormon hymn, sung sweetly by Marie Osmond and her famous brothers — Alan, Merrill, Jay, Wayne, Donny and Jimmy. The eldest Osmond brothers, Tom and Virl, who are deaf, accompanied the family by signing the words.

Bryan's silver coffin was interred at the East Lawn Memorial Hills Cemetery in Provo. At the graveside, the family scrawled handwritten messages onto orange balloons before releasing them into the air.

(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)