Ezra Jude Osborn

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On Tuesday, June 2, 2020 the world lost two incredible boys. Seth, aged 8 and Ezra, aged 10. The future needed these kids. Their loss will be felt forever.

Ezra Jude Osborn was born August 2, 2009 in Murray, Utah. Ezra saw so much more in the world than most people. He loved working with his hands and using his imagination to create things. He could make anyone feel special and could make anyone, of any, age smile.

He loved art and design, and he dedicated most of his time drawing, staging, and even filming scenes. He loved details on old buildings and fancy cruise ships. He could identify the spiral woodwork on the Titanic. His tactile creativity saw potential in any object that came his way. He loved and obsessed about his dollhouse, building furniture and light fixtures from scrap bottle caps, upcycled crystals, clay, paper, fabric, and antique jewelry. At school, he ran the architecture club, where he taught other kids to build miniature house models.

Ezra had an uncanny eye for beauty. When he saw the world around him, he celebrated shape and line and story. He captured the necessary angles for a swirling bride for his stop-motion film of a wedding scene. With Seth as his assistant, he directed an ongoing series called “Pup and Friends,” featuring a group of stuffed animals (Pup, Pig, Monkey, Cow) who held meetings, ate dinner, and solved mysteries together.

Ezra was vibrant. The colors in the moon rainbow, the intensity of candy, the fanciness of costumes, all captivated him. All the holidays were his favorite, and he took great joy in hosting parties to celebrate them. He planned the decorations, activities, food, table settings, treats. He made every valentine from scratch starting at the beginning of January. He made signs, he planned sitting arrangements, created activity itineraries and guest lists. He especially loved celebrating Halloween, Dia de los muertos, and his birthday. He often threw parties for made up reasons. His “End of Quarantine” party featured a covid-virus piñata.

Ezra brought talent, vision, and intensity to each creative project. He was an entrepreneur. This past Easter, he marketed his services for egg-bombing people’s homes with candy-stuffed eggs and toys and hiding them in people’s yards so their kids could wake up to a wonder-filled easter egg hunt.

His light-hearted soul delighted in joyful things, from his brother to cartoons, to tickling games with his younger friends. He loved to lead. He loved school, his teachers and his community. He had a spotlight for a smile, lighting up the entire room.

Ezra was an archivist and a collector. He collected boxes, stickers, stuffies, pictures, memories. He had a five pound collection of erasers, started as a gift from his teacher who had collected them in childhood. He saw the useful thing in every object, he valued each for what it could be far more than what it was.

Ezra transformed everyday objects into magical artifacts. Flowers (sometimes weeds) from the garden became beautiful bouquets. Most importantly, he knew how to transform his mom, with a dress and up do, he made her feel beautiful so that an every day outing may feel like a special occasion worth dressing up for. He melted her heart and mended it anew when broken.

Both Ezra and Seth loved books. They loved reading them, making them, sharing them, talking about them, and quoting from them. They also read Boys Life magazine, memorizing and quoting the jokes from the back page first.

They attended school at Mountain West Montessori Academy. Seth had just completed second-grade. Ezra had just completed fourth. They are survived by their mother Sandra Elizabeth Ang Béjar who exposed them to this big, beautiful world and its cultures through both books and their extensive travel. Together, they traveled to Denmark and Finland in Europe, to Saint Martin, Haiti, Cozumel, Belize, and Honduras in the Carribean, to Baja California and Mexico. In the U.S., they visited San Diego, Miami, Yellowstone, Boulder, Boston, and places in North Carolina and Georgia.

Sandra also exposed them to the world right here at home in the Salt Lake Valley. Family holidays involved traditions from other countries and religions. Everything Sandra did with Ezra and Seth was done with thoughtfulness, planning, and care. She mothered with a generosity of spirit. She misses them deeply, as will the world.

Ezra and Seth are survived by many loving aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers at Mountain West Montessori, and their friends in and out of the Daybreak community.
A private memorial service for family and close friends only will be held Monday, June 8th. A public celebration of life for the boys will take place on June10th with more details to follow.

Family and friends have organized a Wish Tree located in Orchard Park in Daybreak at the intersection of Indigo Sky Way and Mille-Lacs, for those who wish to leave messages to Seth and Ezra.

Sandra and her family wish to thank so many people who have poured their love and resources to help us manage this tragedy. In particular to Camille Brinton, Linsey Hseih, Emily Barker, Michelle MacFarlane, Amanda Brown, the Moreno family, the University of Utah Department of English/Creative Writing, members of the Eastlake Community, and countless others who have supported the GoFund me fund, with cleaning, meals, and words of encouragement and love. Thank you for sharing your strength at this difficult time.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to The Peregrine House Foundation. Contact Emily Dyer at 760-473-7291 if interested.