PROVO — Olive Osmond is coming home to Provo, one of her famous singing sons says.
Speaking from his home in Branson, Mo., Wednesday, Jimmy Osmond said his 76-year-old mother will be released from the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center sometime during the next couple of weeks and will take up residence at a new home in Provo with her husband, George.
"Mother" Osmond has been in the hospital since Nov. 12, 2001, after she suffered a stroke in St. George.
The woman who, along with her husband, raised a generation of entertainers and was a phone buddy for Elvis Presley as well as the force behind the family success has undergone two surgeries since the stroke and has worked through rehabilitation therapies with determination and characteristic pluck.
"She's doing well," said Jimmy Osmond. "She's a fighter. She's hanging in there for us."
And there's a lot of "us," — enough family that someone related to Olive has been with her almost around the clock over the past months.
They've made regular trips to her room to sing her favorite barbershop songs to her.
The Osmond family has eight sons: Virl, Tom, Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, Donny and Jimmy; one daughter, Marie; and, at last count, 53 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. A new granddaughter — who will bear the middle name of Olive — is expected by Jimmy Osmond and his wife at any moment.
"It's another girl, which is a unique thing for Osmonds," Jimmy Osmond said.
Olive Osmond's hospitalization has not gone unnoticed.
Well-wishers from around the globe have written her personal letters, sent gifts and e-mailed her faithfully.
"It's been amazing," Jimmy Osmond said. "You wouldn't believe the response."
On the family Web site, Olive wrote this message back, dictated to daughter-in-law Chris: "I want to write a note to all my Osmond fans and friends. As I lay here in the hospital with all these tubes the hospital has hooked up to me and I struggle to get well again, I want to thank everyone who has sent me cards and letters and have kept me in their prayers. All the messages and love has been very helpful. Thank you so much for remembering me."
Another message, dictated to her son Alan, reads: "Life is beautiful, and Heavenly Father loves us all. If you only knew how precious life is, you would cherish every moment. . . . Be strong, have faith through these troubled times, and know that you are loved and watched over from above. Love, Mother Osmond."
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com