Northern California Bluegrass Society

Mike Doern of Capitola died on October 2, 2021. He worked as a carpenter and school bus driver, but enjoyed many avocations, including being an enthusiastic bluegrass volunteer and music lover. He was 75 years old.

Mike was best known to the NCBS members as the world’s most effective, pleasant, and unfailingly courteous security volunteer. He quietly enforced the rules at the Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival and other NCBS events, greeting every camper and politely reminding them of their responsibilities. Lest anyone in violation of a rule thought that his soft-spoken nature meant that compliance was not necessary, Mike would respond with good-natured, but absolutely unyielding persistence by remaining beside the camper until the problem was completely resolved.

He was a bluegrass music lover who attended many Santa Cruz and South Bay concerts and festivals, at first arriving on his motorcycle with a striking and unique welded chain around his neck and a extensive moustache, but in later years, he roamed events to visit with his friends on his small mobility scooter. He listened to many local bluegrass radio shows and was an active ham radio operator, known as KM6IKE. As a young man, he was an EMS Volunteer in Mamaroneck, New York and later trained bus drivers in California on how to assist handicapped passengers.

He grew up in Mamaroneck and graduated from Rye Neck High School. Mike refused to fly, but loved trains. He regularly made the long journey by Amtrak train to visit his family back home in upstate New York. Michael C. Doern is survived by 5 of his 8 siblings.