Michael Anthony Grillo
Michael Anthony Grillo was born in Sacramento, California on June 13, 1982. He was the first of two children. Growing up he loved to play with dinosaurs, Legos, and Ninja Turtles. He played video games, but he was happiest with a book in hand. In high school he was interested in psychology and understanding the "human condition." Like a lot of great intellects, Michael finished high school early and graduated in January 2000.
Michael went to Sierra College and Sacramento State University in northern California, graduating with a degree in Psychology. He worked at Starbucks while working on his degree and loved running little psychological experiments on his customers and coworkers. He was known to take time before work to sip on some coffee and read a newspaper to keep up on the news of the day and politics.
He loved long walks and nature and started developing his collection of binoculars, cameras and lenses. He had a beautiful eye and captured life through his unique perspective with his photography. He loved to travel and visited Europe, Central and South America, New Zealand, and many places around the United States and Canada. Most times he would come back with three to four hour-long slide shows of pictures to show his friends and family.
He was a frequent attendee at Burning Man and was always seen with a creatively decorated golf cart, dressed up as firing neurons complete with functional synapses and neurotransmitters, or a guinea pig.
“The Stellar’s Jay has an unmatched crest”
He met his wife Nicole in the hot desert sands of Black Rock Desert one day in 2006 at Burning Man. They traveled the world together, camping, hiking, and hitch hiking until they finally settled down in Austin, Texas. They married in May 2013. Their first daughter, Olive, was born in December 2014 and their second daughter, Sage was born in May 2017. He was a dad through and through and loved his family very much. He always held his daughters’ hands and kept his family so close.
The only times he got visibly emotional was because he missed his girls and wanted to be with them if they were off at a sleep-over or if he was at work. Michael spent years striving to provide for his family, working weekends at HopDoddy, and applying for jobs, but found himself either over-qualified or needing more experience that was challenging to get.
After years of working toward his goals he started a new career as a 7th grade science teacher at Manor Tech Middle School in 2021. He was so excited about this new job and loved helping his students learn about science and of course, birds. He often said, "If the kids were getting out of hand I would just say, 'I'm gonna start talking about birds if y'all don't follow my directions’.” His study of birds was infectious. He told many people about the Merlin Bird ID app. His friends would often send him information about the birds the app picked up and he would always comment on them and get excited if it picked up a rare bird for their area.
Everyone says this about a loved one who is now gone, but there is no one quite like Michael. The way Michael navigated the world, his inner beauty and peace, how he was grounded, his lack of ego, his humility, his very funny and unique wit that most didn't see coming. He embodied knowledge, inquisitiveness, and perpetual learning. He was an observer, simple, yet had a deep, inner labyrinth of complexity. Michael had big plans for what he wanted to teach his girls. He would often be seen just sitting at Stacey Park, observing, listening, and breathing.
We think about Michael with the wind on our face, the crunch of autumn leaves under our feet, in the songs the birds sing, and feeling the sweat of summer pearling on our cheeks. We like to think he's in the sky flying with the hawks. He loved birds of prey, so let’s all picture Michael with them, soaring above us.
