Eunice A. Messick

Eunice A. Messick
October 26, 1928 – July 3, 2021

Eunice A. Messick, daughter of Paul and Anne Allison (deceased), widow of Jack Messick, sister of Sandra (deceased) mother of Guy (Lucy) of Media, Kyle of Bermuda and Kirk Messick (Susan) of Malvern, grandmother to seven (Bryan, Adam, Allison, Kate, Kristen, Alexander, and Stephanie), and great-grandmother to six (Reagan, Kendall, Milena, Elouise, Emerson and Oliver), died peacefully at home on July 3, 2021.

Eunice was born and raised in Media.   At Media High School, she was the head majorette in the marching band.  After attending the University of Pennsylvania for art studies, she became a reporter for the local newspaper.   In 1949, she married Jack Messick, also Media born and bred.  In 1956, they bought a seven booth bar called the Rose Tree Inn and transformed it into one of the best known restaurants and banquet facilities in the area.  The Rose Tree Inn was a community gathering place for thirty years.  The nearby Rose Tree Hunt Club inspired a horse racing atmosphere.  Jack and Eunice travelled to Churchill Downs to research the Derby.  All the Kentucky Derby winners, jockeys and owners were listed in the bar area.  Jockey silks were displayed.   The restaurant had a flat roof and lawn jockeys were placed around the edge of the roof.  Each year, upon the completion of a Kentucky Derby race, Eunice would climb up on the roof and paint the jockey silks of the winner.  Eunice served as the hostess and co-manager of the Rose Tree Inn.   Her grace and charm, as well as her business sense, were well known and regarded in the Media community.  Jack and Eunice also built and operated the Boat House Restaurant across the road from the Rose Tree Inn.

Eunice was a member of Rolling Green Golf Club.  She began playing golf to spend more time with her husband Jack.   Her swing was a graceful as her personality.  She had seven holes-in-one. 

Eunice had a zest for life and an insatiable curiosity.  Jack and Eunice travelled widely both within and outside the United States.   After Jack’s death, she continued her travels with her children and solo.   Her destinations included China, Mongolia, Patagonia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Botswana, Croatia, Latvia, Poland, and Norway, travelling north of the Artic Circle on supply ship.  Her last trip was in 2019.  It was a two week train ride across Russia from Vladivostok to Moscow when she had stage four cancer but never told anyone.  

She was beloved and revered by her family.  She went to as many of her grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s sporting events as she could.  When visiting her great-grandchildren in her eighties and nineties, she never missed an opportunity to get down on the floor to play with them.  Their Nanny was precious to them.

She lived life with generous kindness and dignity.  If she had a health or personal issue to overcome she just faced it, without complaint or excuse.   She was born in a generation that faced the challenges of a depression and world war and overcame both.  This is how members of the Greatest Generation faced life.  This is how Eunice lived. 

Calling hours will be at the Rigby, Harting & Hagan Funeral Home, 15 East Fourth Street, Media, PA on Thursday July 15 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm and again Friday at the Middletown Presbyterian Church at 9:30 am with funeral services at 10:30 am and interment to follow at Media Cemetery. 

In lieu of flowers, charitable donations are invited to be made to the World Wildlife Fund, the American Cancer Society or Tyler Arboretum. 

Eunice Messick Video Tribute

Arrangements: Rigby Harting & Hagan Funeral Home
www.haganfuneralhome.com