Search and Rescue member dedicated life to helping others; found
passion in his family, church, work and volunteering
Gilroy – Douglas Mincey, a devoted father, grandfather and husband, died doing what he loved most – helping others. The assistant director of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit died Friday night while photographing the scene of an airplane crash at Coyote Lake Park.
Mincey, 58, volunteered for the past 12 years with the unit, serving as an incident commander orchestrating searches and deploying equipment to find missing children and Alzheimer’s patients. He devoted thousands of hours to the search and rescue team, working on high profile child murder cases such of Polly Klaus and Xiana Fairchild – and still had time for his family, his church and his work.
“He was just a really dedicated man,” said Gail Mincey, his wife of 30 years. “He had a real love for people and we know that came from his love of God. He wanted to share God’s love and the best way he could do it was hands on in practical ways.”
On Friday Mincey hiked out to the wreckage of an airplane crash that claimed the lives of four Wednesday night to collect pictures and information for training and debriefing purposes.
While walking up the hillside where the debris was located, he experienced shortness of breath and collapsed at about 4:20pm. No trails lead to the crash site, and emergency personnel had difficulty with the terrain and fog reaching him.
He died shortly after. An autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death, however, emergency personnel on scene believe he died of a heart attack.
“The guy was absolutely dedicated to the search and rescue unit. Bar none, you would think the guy was a paid member of the Sheriff’s Office,” said Sgt. George Schifano who worked with Mincey when he served as coordinator for the unit. “Doug was just absolutely fantastic – very much professional, very much committed to the mission. This is just a tremendous loss for us.”
Born and raised in Redondo Beach, he had a desire to perform community service – volunteering for an area harbor patrol. For decades Mincey had listened to police and fire scanners.
“It was just part of our household sound,” Gail explained. “You could just see his eyes light up when he was working on a search and rescue.”
He joined the search and rescue unit after hearing on the police scanner about a missing child in his Saratoga neighborhood and joining search efforts. He met up with the team and afterwards underwent a 13-week training session with the sheriff’s office.
“It was a passion of his – there’s no doubt about that,” said Lt. Dale Unger, commander of the Underwater Search Unit. “We were all talking yesterday, if you’re going to die, it’s better to die doing what you loved, and Doug did that.”
When he wasn’t on a rescue call, Mincey worked as the director of sales support for Altera, or spent time with his family.
He met his wife at church in southern California. They moved to the Bay Area 30 years ago for his work and to start a family.
He taught his son Jeff how to build computers. He took his daughter Kristy along hiking, boating, and skiing. And lately, Mincey had taken to adoring his 1-year-old grandson, Landon.
“He just had such a big heart for everyone he saw in need,” his daughter Kristy said. “He wouldn’t hesitate, he was the first to get up and help out.”
Whether it was on a rescue search or the top of a ski mountain, if someone needed assistance – he was by there at their side.
His family often wondered how he was able to devote so much of himself to everyone and still feel like he was a full-time dad. Even when he was called away on weekends or in the evenings, his family supported him.
“He was better off then helping people,” his son Jeff said. “It wouldn’t hurt so much if it wasn’t so good (with him.)”
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team at www.sccar.org or to Calvary Church at www.calvarylosgatos.org
