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Remembering ApX Friend Paul "Doc" Nigh (1956-2024)
Fri., Feb. 16. 2024 3:59pm EST
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
On February 4, ApologetiX lost a dear friend and longtime supporter, Paul "Doc" Nigh of Bakersfield CA. Best known for his Back to the Future II DeLorean time-machine car, he suffered a heart attack while driving that vehicle. He was only 67 years old and will be missed by me and countless others.
A former police officer, musician, and magician, Doc used his car to help raise awareness of missing children. He was also a reality TV star, appearing regularly on a program called The Fireball Run.
In addition to that, Doc was the guy who designed and manufactured our standard ApologetiX lapel pins, our 25th-anniversary lapel pins, and our 30th-anniversary challenge coins (through his company, Sgt. Nigh's Designs) — all of which he gave to us to use for fundraisers as his way of blessing this ministry.
ApologetiX was his favorite band, and he told me often how much he'd grown in the Lord through listening to our parodies. His favorite secular band had been The Raspberries. Consequently, when we spoofed them in 2017, we arranged for him to play bass on the recording. The finished song, "Show Us the Way," can be heard on our Xit Ego Lopa CD.
Doc was friendly, kind, and generous with his resources. He'd been a fan of ApologetiX for many years, but we first met him in person in 2009 at a concert we played in Moreno Valley CA. He drove the DeLorean to that show and gave all the band members rides and took lots of photos with us. In 2016, he even brought it out to Pittsburgh PA for an event where I was singing with my church.
He also came to the ApX 25th-anniversary show in 2017, although he flew out for that one. While he was in town, he insisted on taking all the band members and their wives out to dinner. Since then, he had remained in touch with me, and we'd talk on phone from time to time, including twice in 2023, plus texting. In recent years, he'd had a variety of health problems and had been hospitalized on occasion.
He texted me the following in 2020: "Music has ALWAYS been my crutch throughout the hard times in my life. The only difference between the 70s and today is, it's ALL ApologetiX music now. You will never truly understand how your music keeps me going. And for that I say THANK YOU."
KGET-TV, the NBC affiliate in Bakersfield, ran this three-minute news piece on him after the accident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaU3PiHKuBw
I know from our conversations that his daughter, Tamara, meant the world to him. She shared the following on Facebook:
"Boy, did my dad go out with style: In his car, and wrecking into our favorite place to have drinks and play card games — Starbucks. On February 4th, my dad was in an accident with his DeLorean. He suffered from a heart attack, resulting in him wrecking his car.
"At 4:41 p.m., his watch called 911, detecting a crash and when CHP called him back at 4:43 p.m. It was a missed call. He did not suffer. That's what he wanted was to not suffer. He always said if it was his time to go he wanted it to be fast."
She added, "It seems like a bad nightmare I wish I could wake up from. My dad was very involved. And not just in this town or in this state. Not even limited to this country. People from all around the world are contacting me.
"I love my daddy so much, and this is beyond so hard on my family and I. I am in need of any donations; every little bit helps. I need to cover mainly funeral expenses and storage, and I'm trying to keep his house payments going long enough for me to go through and get things situated. So any donation is beyond a blessing. Thank you, everyone, for your prayers. Thank you so much."
Tamara's GoFundMe account can be found at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/paul-doc-nigh
We thank God for bringing Doc into our lives. We'll miss him and his winsome ways. Please join us in praying for Tamara and her family.
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