Rudolph “Rudy” Saragosa

Rudolph “Rudy” Saragosa, age 79, passed Friday, February 12th at Valle Verde Health Center after a long illness. Rudy was born April 14, 1941, to John Saragosa and Beatrice Escobar Saragosa (Gonzales) A lifelong resident of Santa Barbara, he was born the second of seven children.

Rudy attended Santa Barbara High School and worked as a gardener at Hope Ranch, an assembler at Infared Carpinteria, 24 years at UCSB as a mail carrier, and ten at Scolari’s Food & Drug Store.

In July 1971, Rudy’s boss asked him for a favor. A recent transplant from Stillwater,  Oklahoma, Joy Fringer was requesting a job application. She was living with her brother Tim in the same apartment complex as Rudy’s then girlfriend. It would be quicker than the mail, if he could drop off the application instead. They had seen each other before but never interacted.  He asked her as she was new to town, if she would like to see some of Santa Barbara, so he took her on a drive all over Santa Barbara, Montecito,  Hope Ranch, and Goleta. After they went for coffee and talked for hours. They were married 11/6/71 and remained so until her passing in November 2016.

Rudy is survived by his son John Paul of Santa Barbara, and sisters Gloria Dunn (Saragosa) of Bakersfield and Aurora Gonzales of Santa Barbara.

Rudy was interred at Carpinteria Cemetery, where he reunited with his wife. Thanks to Coastal Cities Cremation of Ventura, Ca. There was no service due to Covid-19.