It is with profound sorrow that we announce the sudden passing of our son, brother and
uncle, nephew, cousin and friend, Edward John Espino on Sunday, March 16, 2025 in Austin,
Texas at the young age of 47 years old.

Edward had many nicknames growing up such as "Baby Eddie" and "Little Eddie" as he was named after his father, Edward Castro Espino, but by far his favorite was "Uncle Letty", sweetly given to him by his five nephews, Nicholas, Aiden, Christian, Deakon and Dominick. He would smile ear to ear and mimic them back as they screamed, "Uncle Letty! Uncle Letty! Uncle Letty!" each time he would come home. Although they were his "babies", in our family he was and always will be "the baby". It should be no surprise that no matter how old he was, his name was always affectionately kept as "baby Eddie". Outside the family though, with friends and in the real world he was simply, Eddie.

From a very young age Eddie could brighten even the darkest day with his silly demeanor and his larger than life smile. Even then he was often described as "the brightest light" because of his innate ability to make anyone and everyone laugh. In his younger years he was a member of the choir at St. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church and along with his sisters, Laurie and Jessica, was in the yearly Easter Sunrise at Cole Park many times. Eddie's charisma only grew with age as he began performing in numerous theatre productions in high school at Foy H. Moody High School (junior year) as well as Mary Carroll High School until he graduated, Class of 1995. After graduation, Eddie then turned his focus towards joining The United States Army where he became part of the 82nd Airborne Rangers and a superb marksman in Infantry while stationed in Cairo, Egypt. From the army he decided he again needed a creative outlet so he moved to Dallas, Texas where he enrolled and put himself through school at the Art Institute of Dallas before graduating in Graphic Design in 1997. It was at this point that Eddie decided it was time to come back to his hometown in Corpus Christi, Texas and sought out employment using his newfound skills. He immediately went to work in graphics design, production, camera operation, promotions producer as well as various other titles first at KRISTV and then iHeart Radio. While at both of these jobs Eddie would tell you he made lifelong friendships and became a Mentor for those that were just starting off. He was compassionate, he both learned and taught but most importantly, he listened to them. As his professional career was thriving he sought out ways to fulfill the ever there desire to act. He began auditioning and landing roles in many plays at both The Harbor Playhouse (West Side Story) and The Aurora Arts Theatre. Eddie instantly fell in love with performing, he loved to dance, sing, act and although he loved both theatres he felt the most at home at Aurora. Over the next several years, he took on a range of roles in different plays, even playing multiple characters in the same production. His all-time favorite was The Rocky Horror Picture Show, where he played Brad twice and also the Phantom. Though that was his favorite, Eddie also starred inThe Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Spring Awakening, and Alter Boys. These productions only fueled the long-standing passion he had for acting and after a trip to New York City with his childhood best friend, Debra DeLeon and her brother, Alex Schelanko, Eddie quickly decided to pick up and move to the big apple. While in NYC he worked various jobs and even landed a few roles in some off Broadway productions. After a few years he'd had his fix of the bright lights in the city and he once again came back home to his loving family to regroup and rest. While back home he wanted to try something new, so instead of only focusing on center stage he sought out acting in films. He began to star in a few independent films as well as even trying his own hand in creating a film for the inaugural Corpus Christi 7 Day Film project. Eddie's love for all genres was clear but the genre at the top of his list was horror. He finally found his niche with his friend and fellow horror genre fan, Chris Ambriz, and began working and ultimately starring in Chris' popular movie, Muerte Tales of Horror flick. It was about this time in Eddie's life where he started to get the itch again for the big apple and one day he moved to Brooklyn. Unfortunately, this move coincided with the beginning of the Coronavirus Epidemic but nonetheless Eddie was resilient and maintained his positive outlook on life while the world went into lockdown. He passed the days by keeping us all entertained with his Facebook lives as well as keeping up with the latest dance trends on TikTok. While in NYC this time around he started to venture out and saw a lot of wrongs with the world and wanted to do something to make a difference so he became a fierce activist for many movements including the LGBTQIA+ community that he was immensely proud to be a part of as well as the Black Lives Matter movement. That wasn't all, Eddie would venture out to contribute his time often by volunteering at many charities including, Backpacks For The Streets that donated backpacks full of toiletries and more to the homeless or those in need most. Helping others always came so naturally to him, we learned it from our parents, Ed and especially Irma. Eddie was always willing to help a friend move, let them have a place to stay, give them a few bucks or provide the help that none of us ever even knew about because they were at a low point in their life. That was him. New York was a time for him to become more involved so as another source of income he also started working for politician, Andrew Cuomo, in social media, again, amongst other various jobs he had because like he once said "everyone works three jobs in New York..."

Once again it was time for him to come home again to rest, especially and more specifically after the long term effects that Covid had now had on not only the world but us, as people. Here at home he hit the ground running once again and went straight to work and began working with the Corpus Christi Hooks Baseball team at Whataburger Field and he absolutely loved it. You would often find him hyping up the crowd or leading the fan games in the middle of the field before the first pitch. Of course, Eddie was always up for an adventure so soon after he moved to San Antonio to stay with our cousins, Marco and his sister Liz Carranza before ultimately settling in Austin, Texas in 2024. In Austin he found a beautiful two story home with his roommate, Steven and his girlfriend. He was especially excited to be "Uncle Eddie" to their baby she was expecting. He was happy. He was content. He felt at home. Still wanting to pursue his love of performing and singing, Eddie was blessed to find The Austin Gay Men's Chorus and had become a member. Every week he would call back home updating them with how rehearsals were going and was most excited for the performance coming up in May 2025, telling Laurie, "sister, you've never heard me sing like this before...". Eddie was loving life, by day he would spend his hours working with his coworkers he viewed as family at Georgetown Film Alley and had even just been promoted. Nights he could be found helping run the photo booth at parties and events as his roommate, Steven, DJ'd. It didn't matter what city he lived in, where he worked, what age group he was around, Eddie made tons of new friends everywhere he went. He would bring a spark to their lives they didn't even know existed or they were missing. He was always ready to try something new, as his friend Thomas Piland once said, "everyone has their own special Eddie story..." and they did. His last group he gave his special "Eddie" stories to were the friends he made in Austin, where he had grown to feel like he "found his people" as he said to our older sister, Laurie. Eddie has truly had an exciting life, with some downs, some ups, thousands of friendships and countless friendships but one constant that always remained the same and this is, after everything was said and done he would always come back home to his parents, sisters, brothers-in-law, nephews and family and tight knit friends...and so he did on that fateful night of March 16, 2025. He's finally home. He's finally resting and he's finally at peace knowing how truly loved he was and what a phenomenal impact he made on this earth. By whatever name you knew him as, we can all agree he was one of a kind and inspirational with his never ending posts about staying positive on facebook, or making you smile when you thought your life was over. His encouragement will never age or cease as we all can still hear him tell us to keep going when we close our eyes, and now he will forever be home here, in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Edward John Espino is survived by both his parents, Ed and Irma Espino, his sisters, Laurie (David) Caballero, Jessica (Andrew) Munoz, his nephews, Nicholas Edward Caballero, Aiden James Caballero, Christian Aaron Caballero, Deakon Edward Munoz (Christian), Dominick John Munoz (Christian), niece Brooke Willmore, his first Great-Nephew to be Mason Glenn Munoz, numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends that became family, all of whom were the backbone of who Eddie was.

He was preceded in death by Great-Grandparents Juan and Juliana Espino, Mauro Castro, Grandfather Ernesto Espino Sr., Great Aunt Mercedes Espino, Great Aunt and Uncle Lupe and Johnny Martinez, cousin Jaime David Hernandez, cousin Amy Esquivel, Great Uncles Juan Espino and Lorenzo Castro.

The family would like to take a moment to thank everyone for being in Eddie's life and for the outpour of love and support they have felt during this trying time. We would like to encourage to continue his legacy and spread positivity and grace in his honor by #LivingLikeEddie.

Public Visitation will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, March 31, 2025 at Guardian Funeral Home 5922 Crosstown Expressway in between Holly Road and Saratoga Blvd. with a Holy Rosary and Celebration to begin at 6:30 p.m. Visitation will continue on Tuesday, April 1, 2025 starting at 8:00 a.m. with the Funeral Procession to depart Guardian funeral home at 9:35 a.m. to Saint Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church 3210 So. Padre Island Drive for the Funeral Mass that will be Celebrated at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Memory Gardens Cemetery 8200 Old Brownsville Rd.