Community Corner

RB Boy Scout Troop Leader Who Died on Hike Remembered as Cheerful, Devoted Father

A memorial service for Charles DuMars, 46, of Poway is scheduled for Saturday in Rancho Bernardo.

Charles DuMars was a storyteller. A cheerful presence. An "aw shucks" kind of guy, and devoted husband and father.

So as he hiked in the Black Mountain Truck Trail area of Ramona last Saturday with his son's Boy Scout troop, DuMars chatted about how much the teen's skills had improved over the years. Minutes later, as he lay on the trail after suddenly collapsing, it was DuMars' son who used those sharpened skills to try and save his father's life.

DuMars, 46, died Saturday of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, according to the San Diego Medical Examiner's Office. A public memorial service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the .

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"It's very difficult to lose someone like that. ...We look forward to honoring him on Saturday," said David Dutcher, one of two leaders from Rancho Bernardo-based Troop 680 on the hike with DuMars last weekend. DuMars is from Poway.

Dutcher, who has known the DuMars family for several years, said he had been talking with "Chuck" about his son's progress just minutes before the sudden collapse.

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"[He] hadn't given us any indication that he was in distress at all. He was working hard, but he was in a great mood and everything was fine," Dutcher said, adding that he always loved having DuMars on the hikes.

That weekend, five teen boys and three adults had headed to Ramona to train for the Nine Peaks Challenge—a Boy Scouts tradition that takes advanced hikers to nine peaks in the San Bernardino Mountains. They were about five miles into the hike, and the boys had just finished a mapping exercise, when DuMars suddenly collapsed, Dutcher said.

Scoutmaster Guy Buchanan and Dutcher quickly began performing CPR, and the boys, who were a couple of hundred feet ahead, came back to help.

"The boys all stayed calm. They were ready to help. They weren't panicked at all, which was fantastic," Dutcher said, adding that he can't commend the Boy Scouts enough for their efforts to save DuMars.

Buchanan, too, played a key role in orchestrating the rescue effort as he instructed the boys about calling for help and taking notes to aid emergency personnel once they arrived. Within the next hour or so, two helicopters and other emergency personnel arrived thanks to the signaling of the Boy Scouts, Dutcher said.

Throughout this time, the Boy Scouts gathered around DuMars' son Mason, a freshman at Poway High School, to try to keep him busy and supported, Dutcher said. Buchanan also called them in for a group hug and a short prayer, and let them know it was OK to cry because he would cry, too, Dutcher said.

But, as the helicopter delayed takeoff, it became apparent that something was wrong and Dutcher said he was informed that the call's code had been changed to a fatality. The troop leaders decided it was not their place to tell Mason and instead helped him get to transportation to connect with his mother, Dutcher said.

The experience has been traumatic for the family, the boys and the troop leaders who were fond of the former Navy man, husband of 26 years to Tracy and father of two.

DuMars' daughter, Shelby, is a local college student.

Buchanan, though not wanting to say much about the tragic experience, described DuMars as a "fine" scout leader who would be missed.

In a photograph the family said was taken just minutes before he collapsed, DuMars is shown smiling as he hikes in shorts and a black shirt, a backpack on his back. His wife Tracy "loves it," said Dutchers' wife Stephanie.

"It just brings her a lot of comfort because he looks great in it. He's happy and smiling," Stephanie Dutcher said.

The community has been very supportive of the family all week, the Dutchers said. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a fund for DuMars' children—the Shelby and Mason DuMars Trust—at Navy Federal Credit Union, 17030 Bernardo Center Dr. The account number is 3026023428.

According to an obituary from the family, DuMars is also survived by his mother Geraldine; brothers Jack, Mark and Anton; sisters Julie and Jill; 19 nieces and nephews; several cousins and friends.

He served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years as an EOD Master Technician, the obituary says.

It was the stories from then—of training soldiers how to protect themselves—that Dutcher said he enjoyed most.

 


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