Eric Messmore
Eric Messmore, a loving son, brother, and friend passed away unexpectedly on March 4, 2024 at his home in Santa Barbara. He was born in Santa Monica in April 1984 and grew up in Southern California until the family moved to Norman, Oklahoma. After finishing at Norman High School, Eric returned to Santa Barbara where he attended city college and started working.
Eric had a great sense of humor, an infectious laugh, and genuine smile. He never met a stranger and everyone enjoyed being around him. He sought new adventures and learning new skills. He was a great cook and enjoyed making meals for friends and family. Eric found great joy in travelling and spending time with dear family and friends. He had a compassionate soul and an even bigger loving, heart. He could often be found playing his guitar, singing along to some of his favorite songs, sitting out outside, enjoying the sun and fresh air, or reading an interesting book.
In school he was active in sports, playing baseball, soccer, football, and roller hockey. Oklahoma is where he began the love affair with golf. He found he had a natural gift for the game and carried that back to California when he moved back to Santa Barbara.
He had a variety of jobs over the years, but his favorite was working at ‘Muni’, the local Santa Barbara golf course, where he met great people and worked on perfecting his game. In recent years he had worked in the family business focused on maintenance and repair for commercial and rental properties. From that experience, Eric naturally transitioned into working as a hotel maintenance/property engineer here in Santa Barbara. His great work ethic, which he prided himself on, along with hard work and determination, was quickly noticed by his employers garnering him several promotions during his time with them.
He will be forever missed by those who loved and/or knew him. Eric is survived by his sister and best friend Kristin Messmore (and her husband Joe Johnson of Virginia), his parents Rick and Marsha Messmore, his beloved sweetheart Saulina Martinez, and many great friends and extended family.
Services will be held at 12:00pm on Friday, March 15 2024 at Welch-Ryce-Haider Chapel in their downtown location at 15 E. Sola St, Santa Barbara, CA. Internment at Santa Barbara cemetery will immediately follow.
There will be a celebration of life for family and friends held at Mulligans Café and Bar at the SB Municipal Golf Course, 3500 McCaw Avenue, Santa Barbara at 3:00pm. Please RSVP with your name to marshamessmore@aol.com.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the PARC Foundation designated to the Russ Morrison Trust (https://www.parcsb.org) in Eric’s name. Each year the Russ Morrison Trust funds scholarships to Santa Barbara area high school students to help with their college expenses and additionally help support Russ Morrison Junior Golf; a year long, affordably priced golf program for young people at the Santa Barbara Golf Club.