Oak Park grad mourned following surfing tragedy

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Sat., Jan. 28 at Goleta Beach Park for 29-yearold Michelle Housego, formerly of Oak Park, who died two weeks ago in a surfing accident near the campus of UC Santa Barbara.

Housego, a 1995 graduate of Oak Park High, drowned after the leash on her surfboard became tangled in some jagged rocks and she was pulled under the water by a strong current, said her father, Cliff Housego.

Although several surfers in the water and on the beach heard her cries for help and tried to rescue her, none was successful. Housego was pulled from the water, but attempts to revive her failed. She was rushed to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital where she was pronounced dead sometime around 6 p.m. on Jan. 15.

Encouraged by her fiancé, Ben Falk of Santa Barbara, Housego had been surfing regularly for about five years. She was living in Santa Barbara at the time of her death.

The memorial will be open to the public, said Housego’s father, a resident of Oak Park. The service will include what surfers refer to as a “paddle out” in which all the surfers in attendance will paddle out into the water, hold hands, say a prayer and then release Housego’s ashes into the ocean.

The memorial will be at 5986 Sandspit Road. Take the 101 Freeway north to Highway 217 south, then exit Sandspit Road in Goleta.

Additionally, a website has been set up as a tribute to Housego and as a place for friends and others to leave comments. The address is: www.a100things.com/ MemoriesofMichelle.

Housego leaves behind her fiancé and their 2-year-old daughter, Kaili.