Michigan: Sheriff's Office Dive Team member died during training Sunday.

[DandyDon]

John Makuch: He served Clay Twp. as trustee | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

A funeral is planned today for Clay Township Trustee John Makuch, a volunteer St. Clair County Sheriff's Office Dive Team member who died during training Sunday.

Mr. Makuch, 56, of Algonac suffered a massive heart attack while training at the Port Huron YMCA, Sheriff Tim Donnellon said. Dive team members attempted to revive him. But Mr. Makuch, the assistant dive chief, was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron hospital.

"This is a terrible tragedy, a terrible loss for John's family, the Dive Team, the Sheriff's Office and the community as a whole," Donnellon said.

"He was extremely, extremely involved in the department and with his community activity. He gave an awful lot back to St. Clair County and the citizens."

Joining the Dive Team in 1991, Mr. Makuch was a master diver with certifications in search and rescue and ice diving. A U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain, he also taught Dive Team members navigation, boat handling and sonar operation.

It is the first death of a team member since the volunteer organization began in 1969, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Mr. Makuch worked in automotive supply sales. He had been on the Clay Township Planning Commission since 1996 and was elected a township trustee in 2004.

Mr. Makuch is survived by his wife of 28 years, Eileen, and children Ann Marie and John. A viewing will be at 9:30 a.m. today at Immaculate Conception Church in Ira Township, followed by mass at 10 a.m.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Son of a bitch, I met john with a few volunteers, It was funny All you needed to do was be a diver and volunteer, and you got a badge of what county you volunteered in. I rode the Clinton river and the Detroit river when I was a kid, saved many of friends, and new the rivers, we were a wild bunch as me and my buddy jetski the rivers during first thaw when rivers were high, ducking to limbs, and jumping logs. The water is dirty no vis, and flowing current, st Clair is by the lake and had many more rescues invoved, from rivers to swimmers and a occasional diver.

Any ways I left shortly after john started helping, he was a few county's away, yet any one with deep wreck dive experience was called upon the great lakes.

Sorry John and thank you for your years of voluntary service.


Happy Diving