Eric was the youngest of five children born to Robert Ellingsworth, Jr., and Linda Grone. He was multi-talented and excelled in everything he put his mind to. He moved to Florida in 2023 Eric moved to Florida in February of 2023, to live with me, his mother.
In April of 2023 I went out of town for a week and when I returned home, he had changed. He said he no longer wanted to live in guilt, in negativity and being depressed. I watched him as he learned how to forgive himself for the things that had plagued his life, slowly becoming happier and learning to appreciate life.
He began going to the beach with me once a week, loving the sand, water, and waves. He eventually began going several times on his own, enjoying the sunsets and sunrises as well. Heath told you about his walking workouts, plus he started swimming again.
Eric became a vegetarian, creating great meals that we would share together at night. We gave thanks for our food, and he volunteered often to pray. He became an expert at creating nuts, seeds and dried fruit trail mixes and always has some with him wherever he went.
As time passed, he found a purpose for his life in wanting to help people who were experiencing the same things. It was to spread “Love and Positivity” to everyone. One day he decided that he was going to walk across America spreading this message that very day. All I could say was, “Okay.” I gave him one of my backpacks and began packaging food for his trip. He didn’t want an umbrella, even though it was raining heavily, or my beach tent, leaving only with the clothes and shoes he was wearing, his journals, pens and art supplies, his backpack and the $21 I had in my wallet. He texted me every two hours during the day letting me know that he was okay and how far he walked. The last time I heard from him he had been picked up by a kind young man and dropped off at a gas station right near the interstate. He was hoping to get more rides and I assumed he was moving across Florida.
Around 9:00 the next morning, he called me. No one picked him up and he slept in the culvert along the interstate and in the rain. He had made it only one hour from our house. Eric was drenched from the rain, covered in ant and mosquito bites, but not daunted. He knew he needed to be more prepared to try it again. He lived in my beach tent on the back patio, eventually putting a twin mattress inside so he could sleep.
With his new motto, training was imperative and he would walk miles every day. He would paint hearts in different places. Photographs of them are on one of the photo boards. The large heart is down the street from my house and I see it almost every day.
Eric attended church with me on Sunday mornings for the last two months before his accident. The Sunday before he died, he re-dedicated his life to living for and serving Jesus, spreading Love and Positivity. The change was noticeable. He was happy and excited about the future and his part in it.
Eric died in a one car crash in Jacksonville on his way home from Mickler Beach. The incident is shrouded in mystery as to what happened to him that morning. We will never know. He is loved and missed.