A Bowling Green man has died 52 years after losing his hands and eyesightwhen a mail bomb disguised as a package exploded in his hands in 1949.William H. “Bill” Osborne, 82, of Bowling Green died at his Fairview Avenuehome Wednesday at 5 a.m.In 1949, Osborne was working as a clerk at the U.S. Post Office in BowlingGreen when he handled a package with an inaccurate address.In order to better look at the address, Osborne moved a cord that securedthe package, which was wrapped in paper, when the explosion occurred.The explosion shook the post office, which was housed at the WilliamNatcher Federal Building, and was heard several blocks away.Osborne awoke in a hospital room with his hands amputated, blind and withhis hearing severely damaged.Investigators never determined who sent the package, which was thought tohave been intended for a Bowling Green man who worked as a U.S. Army drillsergeant at a disciplinary barracks in Italy during World War II.At the time of the blast, Osborne was the father of a 2-year-old son andmarried three years to his wife, Frances, who remained married to him for53 years until she passed away from cancer in March 1999.Despite the obvious limitations following the blast, Osborne began a frozenfoods business with the help of his wife and worked as an advertisingsalesman.Osborne credited his wife, friends and Lehman Avenue Church of Christ forhelping him through the years.”I try not to have hatred; it will ruin you,” Osborne said during a 1999interview. “You should never give up. You do the best with what you’ve gotleft.”Osborne’s funeral will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at J.C. Kirby and Son,Broadway Chapel.