Funeral services for Uriel Santoyo, 34, of Georgetown, will be held at 2:00 PM on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, at Laird Funeral Home. Interment will follow at Sunset Memorial Park. Visitation will be held from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at Laird Funeral Home.
Mr. Santoyo passed away on November 3, 2021, in Georgetown. He was born on October 20, 1986, in Jalisco, Mexico.
"Soyo" was a great guy. He pledged with my son, Brett, in Fall 2012. Prior to SFA, he spent 4 years in the Marines. My first and last memory of Soyo was that he was a respectful, positive and humble guy. Those that knew him might also say he was known to raise some hell too. My bet is the Marines helped him become the man he was and the Phi Delts were just the icing on the cake! Great guy that will be dearly missed. In coelo quies est.
Happy Marine Corp Birthday Soyo!, Rest in peace brother, you will always be in my heart & I will always cherish the beautiful memories we made. Hoorah!
I attended the visitation last night and was very impressed that there were well over 200 people and growing as I left. The parking lot was packed and obviously SOYO touched many hearts.
So sad to hear a passing of a brother. Although I didn't know Uriel, I feel like I have a connection as a Texas Eta Brother. What a great American he must have been. I see some saying Uriel passed away from Covid. Is that the reason he passed? God rest his soul.
Soyo was a dear friend of mine. I had the honor of speaking at Soyo's memorial service. I thought I'd share that speech with the brothers here so that you all can have a better glimpse of what a great man he was. It breaks my heart that covid had to take him from us so soon.
"I first met soyo through the phi delta theta fraternity. When i was a pledge, he was my pledgemaster. For those of you who may not be as familiar with fraternities, it is up to the pledgemaster to take responsibility for instilling the values of the fraternity into all of the new members. He taught us how to cary our selves, how to be honorable and respectful. How to get stuff done. It was his job to keep us in line. And with his background in the marines you can imagine that he was pretty damn good at it. I can without a doubt say that i would not be the man that i am today if it weren’t for him.
As a member of the fraternity, we have a term that we refer to our fellow members as. We are brothers. And i can not think of a better word to describe Soyo. He was a brother to us all. He was family. He had this way of always making you feel important. He had so much love for his friends and he wasn’t afraid to show it. And we all loved him. You always knew when he showed up to any gathering because you would hear the collective yell of “Soyo!!!”. He had such an impact on us all. His attitude, his laugh, just his whole personality was infectious.
After a few years i began aging out of the fraternity life. I was in grad school and I’d begun dating my then girlfriend Katie. Most of the guys that i’d gotten so close to through the fraternity had already left but Soyo was still around. He became mine and Katie’s best friend in Nacogdoches. We would meet up with him if not every weekend then every other weekend and no matter what we did we always had the best time. It didn’t matter if we were taking a trip to Austin for a crazy packed weekend or if we were just spending the night in, in his living room having deep conversations and belting out the words to despicito. Katie and I have so many fond memories with him that I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Katie is now my fiancé. And as we begin this process of planning for our wedding, there comes a time when i’m tasked with deciding out of all of my friends and all of those who i know, who has had the biggest impact on our lives and our relationship and should be one of my groomsmen. And let me tell you that soyo was near the top of that list.
He will be missed… he will be honored… and i am blessed that I got to know him. "
Alex, thank you for sharing that, I would not be the man I am today without my pledgemaster, pledge brothers and all my brothers I had the privilege to know and helped shape who I am.
Todd Wallace #489
I did not know Uriel but looks like he was born when I was pledging.. That is so young to get taken by COVID..
Christopher Wren #630
"Soyo" was a great guy. He pledged with my son, Brett, in Fall 2012. Prior to SFA, he spent 4 years in the Marines. My first and last memory of Soyo was that he was a respectful, positive and humble guy. Those that knew him might also say he was known to raise some hell too. My bet is the Marines helped him become the man he was and the Phi Delts were just the icing on the cake! Great guy that will be dearly missed. In coelo quies est.
Rigoberto Marin #946
Happy Marine Corp Birthday Soyo!, Rest in peace brother, you will always be in my heart & I will always cherish the beautiful memories we made. Hoorah!
Brad Fortney #198
I attended the visitation last night and was very impressed that there were well over 200 people and growing as I left. The parking lot was packed and obviously SOYO touched many hearts.
Jeff Wagner #456
So sad to hear a passing of a brother. Although I didn't know Uriel, I feel like I have a connection as a Texas Eta Brother. What a great American he must have been. I see some saying Uriel passed away from Covid. Is that the reason he passed? God rest his soul.
Joseph Martino #248
You were way beyond my Bond #248. But you are still my brother. RIP
Alex Nelson #973
Soyo was a dear friend of mine. I had the honor of speaking at Soyo's memorial service. I thought I'd share that speech with the brothers here so that you all can have a better glimpse of what a great man he was. It breaks my heart that covid had to take him from us so soon.
"I first met soyo through the phi delta theta fraternity. When i was a pledge, he was my pledgemaster. For those of you who may not be as familiar with fraternities, it is up to the pledgemaster to take responsibility for instilling the values of the fraternity into all of the new members. He taught us how to cary our selves, how to be honorable and respectful. How to get stuff done. It was his job to keep us in line. And with his background in the marines you can imagine that he was pretty damn good at it. I can without a doubt say that i would not be the man that i am today if it weren’t for him.
As a member of the fraternity, we have a term that we refer to our fellow members as. We are brothers. And i can not think of a better word to describe Soyo. He was a brother to us all. He was family. He had this way of always making you feel important. He had so much love for his friends and he wasn’t afraid to show it. And we all loved him. You always knew when he showed up to any gathering because you would hear the collective yell of “Soyo!!!”. He had such an impact on us all. His attitude, his laugh, just his whole personality was infectious.
After a few years i began aging out of the fraternity life. I was in grad school and I’d begun dating my then girlfriend Katie. Most of the guys that i’d gotten so close to through the fraternity had already left but Soyo was still around. He became mine and Katie’s best friend in Nacogdoches. We would meet up with him if not every weekend then every other weekend and no matter what we did we always had the best time. It didn’t matter if we were taking a trip to Austin for a crazy packed weekend or if we were just spending the night in, in his living room having deep conversations and belting out the words to despicito. Katie and I have so many fond memories with him that I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
Katie is now my fiancé. And as we begin this process of planning for our wedding, there comes a time when i’m tasked with deciding out of all of my friends and all of those who i know, who has had the biggest impact on our lives and our relationship and should be one of my groomsmen. And let me tell you that soyo was near the top of that list.
He will be missed… he will be honored… and i am blessed that I got to know him. "
Brett Merritt #544
RIP Brother!
Craig Moritz #432
Thanks for sharing that Alex. Sad to lose a brother and especially one so young.
Dan Knight #445
Alex, thank you for sharing that, I would not be the man I am today without my pledgemaster, pledge brothers and all my brothers I had the privilege to know and helped shape who I am.
Uriel, rest in peace brother,
Dano