John E. ‘Bud’ Doble, founder of Post 53, dies at 81

Apr 18, 2008
John E. ‘Bud’ Doble, founder of Post 53, dies at 81

John E. “Bud” Doble, who founded Darien EMS-Post 53, died Tuesday, April 8, of pneumonia in Nantucket, Mass. The former 45-year Darien resident was 81.

Mr. Doble was a “larger than life character, an iconoclast, someone who did things his own way,” according to current Post 53 Chairman Bob Meyjes.

Mr. Doble was perhaps best known for his work with Explorer Post 53, an organization comprised of 50 highly trained, and certified high school students who, with their adult advisors, deliver emergency ambulance service to Darien.

Mr. Meyjes, who worked at Post 53 with Mr. Doble as a teenager in the late 1970s and early 1980s, said that Mr. Doble was the kind of person “who didn’t take no for an answer.”

“If you think about what a radical idea Post 53 is, allowing teenagers to drive ambulances and be responsible for patient care, it’s a pretty far-out concept, and only someone as unique as Bud Doble would have conceived of and been able to pull off,” Mr. Meyjes said.

Doble felt that if young people had adult responsibilities, and he “trained the hell out of them,” they could be as good, if not better, than adult emergency medical technicians, Mr. Meyjes said.

Mr. Doble was born in Arlington, Mass. He attended Tufts College and New York University, and served three years in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II.
Following a career in the advertising agency business, he pursued his avocation in emergency medical services and formed the Emergency Medical Services Co., to supply disaster and risk assessment planning services and emergency patient retrievals for 25 corporations in the U.S. and Europe. The company also furnished emergency medical services for several Winter Olympic Games and worked with NASCAR racing teams in improving human performance. Participating with a Darien consulting company, he was a major contributor to the creation of the Emergency Medical Technician program in the U.S.

Doble lobbied the selectmen at the time for support for Post 53.

“Bob Harrel told me once that when he took office, he got a word of advice, and that was make sure you always call Bud Doble back immediately, because he was not a man to be trifled with, and Harrel said it was good advice,” Mr. Meyjes said.

Susan Warren, the current Post 53 advisor, said that Mr. Doble was a man who “had a vision and a dream.”

“That dream was to empower young people with responsibilities that are normally only given to adults,” Ms. Warren said.

Mr. Doble felt that by empowering young people to do things like Post 53, that they could not only do it well, they could do it better, Ms. Warren said.

“He worked all his life to continue that vision and dream,” she said.

“All of us have, at one point in our life, had those dreams, but making them a reality is something else,” Ms. Warren added.

The reality is that for 38 years, Post 53 continues, she said.

“These young people not only succeed within Post, they go on to succeed in life, and they give back to their communities,” she said.

Mr. Doble was also instrumental in creating mass casualty plans for the state of Connecticut.

He was a long-time member of the Wharf Rat Club and Nantucket Rotary Club. Mr. Doble was a long-time Nantucket summer resident and most recently a full-time resident of Siasconset, Mass.

Mr. Doble is survived by his son, William, and daughter-in-law Bonnie Doble of Essex Junction, Vt.; his daughter, Elizabeth Doble-Holby, M.D., of Barrington, R.I.; daughter Jennifer Doble-Check, M.D., and son-in-law Michael Check of Ann Arbor, Mich.; and grandchildren Ellen Doble, John N. Doble, Robin Holby, William Holby, Allison Check and A.J. Check.

He was predeceased by his wife of 50 years, Limette.

A memorial service was held on Thursday, April 10, at the Sconset Chapel on Nantucket, and was followed by a family reception at Mr. Doble’s home. His ashes will join those of his wife in the columbarium in the Garden of Memories at the Sconset Chapel.

Mr. Doble was “respected by everyone in town and loved by the young adults of the Post,” Mr. Meyjes said.

Mr. Doble was involved in the Post until the mid-1990s.

“Bud was the biggest force in early Post 53 members’ lives, other than their parents,” Meyjes said.

That impact is still felt, due to the responses Meyjes got from the alumni e-mail network of Post 53 about the news of Mr. Doble’s passing.

“It is amazing, the responses we are getting from people,” Mr. Meyjes said.

Ms. Warren said that Mr. Doble’s legacy continues, because young people carry that sense of service into their adult lives and communities.

“They have that wonderful sense of volunteerism that I feel in itself encompasses what Bud wanted for young people and wanted for the future of our country,” she said.

Ms. Warren said she feels that Mr. Doble was very successful in that dream and “that goal becoming reality.”

“It continues today, and it will continue into the future, forever,” she said.

A memorial service and gathering at Post 53 will be held on the Sunday (May 25) of Memorial Day weekend from 2 to 4 p.m.

“This man had more positive influence on more people in Darien than anyone,” Mr. Meyjes said.

E-mail Darien Times reporter Susan Shultz at sshultz @darientimes.com.