Mike Messina
 

Sad to report that one of the very best guncase makers and restorers in the business, Mike Messina of East Meadow Long Island, passed away March 24 after battling liver cancer. Mike was a tremendous help to me when I began restoring and repairing cases over 25 years ago, and his help and encouragement kept me at it. I will sorely miss him.

Sorry for the loss of your friend. Thoughts and prayers.

It always makes me sad when we lose a talented gun guy

sorry to hear of your good friends passing...charlie

I am very fortunate to have spent the afternoon with George Purtill and Mike a few weeks ago. We picked the worst possible day to go for a roadtrip, but as poorly as he felt, Mike took us down to the workshop, and he spent a bit of time giving me pointers on French edging.
When he owned and ran a deli, Mike was doing this work part time, and was encouraged by Gary Herman, back in the old Ridgefield days, to take up case work full time. He scratch built a case for me to fit a Long barreled Belgian 32ga. birding pistol. I had only met him casually in the past, but George had developed a good friendship with him over the past year, and I felt both honored, and sad to have spent the afternoon with him, knowing his time was short. Sadly, we're all moving in that direction, so sharing what knowledge we've accumulated,as Mike did with me, will hopefully make a tiny bit of us live on.

Sorry to hear about Mike, Kevin. I still have one of his gun case labels. May he rest in peace.

Sad news Kevin....Thanks for letting us know.

Sorry for the loss of another good man. Once again I have to say I never had the chance to meet the man, being new to this Parker thing, and I feel a little less blessed for that.

This cancer thing is horrible. Please, pray that some day we can stop it.

PopPop

Kevin- I visited him in the hospital the day before they moved him to hospice. He was still in great spirits and still calling me Georgie. He still had the roar. You would never know he was dying.
He gave me a good anecdote that day about his ice cream shop ownership days. He had a rule for the kids- they could eat all they wanted but whatever they scooped, they had to eat it all or they were let go. He never had a problem and the kids learned self-regulation.
I'm getting together on Long Island with some of his close shooting buddies in the upcoming balmy weather.
I will let all know.

This is some of Mike's work. He rebuilt my Abercrombie Cases and fitted out my dad's two barreled VH case. That is one of his labels.
I only knew him 2 years or so but I would always personally drop off and pick up and visit with him. He was so neat- you could eat off the floor of his shop. Very unlike my dear friend Edgar.

While living in Staten Island I had many occasion to call Mike for case labels and parts for cases he was always willing to take time out of his busy day to help and just talk. A true gentleman in every respect and he will be sorely missed. May he rest in peace