Sister Comes Home to a Family Tragedy : Accident: Older sibling returns from Georgia to find parents dead and a younger sibling clinging to life. Friends remember the family as friendly, close-knit.

With her older sister standing by to comfort her, an 11-year-old Mission Viejo girl clung to life Tuesday after sustaining severe head injuries in a car crash--allegedly caused by a doctor under the influence of drugs--that killed her parents Sunday.

Shelby Minzey, 15, rushed back from a visit to relatives in Georgia to stay in the hospital with her younger sister, Karie Minzey, who remained in critical condition at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana after undergoing brain surgery, according to hospital officials and family friends.

The girls’ parents, Mark and Noreen Minzey, died instantly Sunday evening when the car they were driving home from Karie’s softball tournament was struck head-on by a vehicle driven by Dr. Ronald Joseph Allen, who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs. Two other passengers in the car, 11-year-old Danielle Rodriguez and her 24-year-old sister, Jackie, were injured, but treated and released from UCI Medical Center in Orange on Sunday.

To those who knew them, Mark and Noreen Minzey were the proverbial loving couple and doting parents.

“They were friendly and helpful and a marvelous family,” said Lorraine, a friend and neighbor, who asked Tuesday that her last name not be used. “It’s a shame. An awful thing.”

And whenever she had a problem at her house, Mark Minzey, an electrical contractor, would be quick to help, she added.

“He’s been so good to me,” Lorraine said. “I’m just a widowed lady living alone . . . he’d make sure everything was taken care of. . . . They were good neighbors.”

Bob Bradash, who worked with Mark Minzey at Diamed Inc. in Laguna Hills, said Tuesday: “I’ve known him as a friend for 15 years. On a professional basis, let me just say that I don’t know what we would do without him.”

Mark Minzey “was just willing to do anything for anybody to get anything they need done,” Bradash said. “If somebody had something going on at their home, he was there.”

Minzey was a production manager for the 10 years he worked for the company.

A common interest both parents shared with their children was a love for baseball. For the past few years, they volunteered their time to the Mission de Oro Bobby Sox League in Mission Viejo, Noreen working as a manager and Mark as an assistant coach.

“Baseball was Karie’s love, and she would go out and throw with her father and they would go to baseball games together all the time,” Cathy Bordages, a manager of the Blue Knights Bobby Sox team, of which Karie was a member, said Tuesday.

Bordages said Karie, like her parents, is “very friendly” and has “a lot of spirit.”

To help her players cope with the tragedy and their grief, Bordages held a meeting at her home Tuesday with team members and counselors from the Family Crisis Center.

On Monday, the softball players were told of the injuries suffered by Karie and her teammate, Danielle Rodriguez, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that they learned that Mark and Noreen Minzey had been killed.

“I just need help in helping the girls, and I need help in helping the family,” Bordages said. “Yesterday was to protect them as much as I could; today I just want to help them deal with this.”

The team dedicated Monday night’s game to Karie, but the team lost.

“It just wasn’t the same team,” Bordages said. “Karie and Danielle weren’t there,” and the players “had the reminder that their friends just were not in the dugout.”

“Just about all the girls were crying,” Bordages added.

Private memorial and funeral services are scheduled Friday and Saturday.

Connie Beaty, president of the Mission de Oro League, said a trust fund has been set up to help Karie and Shelby. Donations can be sent to the trust fund, in care of Karie and Shelby Minzey, at the Bank of Orange County, Mission Viejo office, 27230 La Paz Road, Mission Viejo, Calif. 92692.