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Raymond ‘Mike’ Healey, one of Costa Mesa’s first police officers and a former water board member, dies at 89

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Raymond “Mike” Healey, one of Costa Mesa’s first police officers who later went on to serve as a Mesa Water District board member, has died. He was 89.

Healey died on Nov. 29 at the Victoria Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Costa Mesa after battling multiple health issues, according to his daughter, Linda Morgan.

“We are saddened to hear about the passing of Lt. Mike Healey, one of the seven original officers to be hired by the city of Costa Mesa,” Acting Costa Mesa Police Chief Bryan Glass said in a statement. “Mike served in our department for 26 years and took part in creating the photo lab and the dispatch center.”

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After retiring from the Costa Mesa Police Department as a lieutenant in 1979, Healey worked as facilities manager for the city of Irvine where he coordinated the construction of a civic center. He also was a Mesa Water District board member from 1995 to 2005 and served as the board’s president from 1996 to 1998.

“Healey will be remembered for his commitment to keeping Orange County safe and his passion for giving back to the community,” the district wrote in a statement on its website.

Last Christmas, Morgan said Healey gave his family a 141-page self-published book about his personal and professional life in Costa Mesa — which he wrote over the course of about two years. He spent the majority of his life living in the city, except for a brief stint in Huntington Beach as a teenager.

Morgan described Healey as a quiet person who didn’t talk about his work life at home.

“He wasn’t a boasting type of guy, but I think he was proud of his accomplishments,” she said.

Among those were pioneering photography in the Police Department and helping architects design the police headquarters at 99 Fair Drive.

The Police Department was established on Dec. 16, 1953, shortly after the city was incorporated. The original three officers and their chief hired additional policeman — including Healey, who joined the department only seven months after it was born.

“The startup of a new Police Department was a tremendous undertaking,” Healey wrote in his book. “Employee benefits were nonexistent and each member was responsible for providing his or her own required uniforms and equipment.”

His starting salary was $319 a month. With a family to support, he took on night shifts and additional odd jobs, including delivering the Los Angeles Times in the morning, according to his book.

Roger Neth, one of the city’s three original police officers who later became chief in 1964, remembers working out of what he calls a “tin shack” at 20th Street and Newport Boulevard. The department shifted to a bigger building during the early 1960s before moving into its current location in 1967.

Although Healey’s interest in photography began when he was a child, his first introduction to police photography was taking shots at the scene of a homicide. Apart from crime scenes, he also documented traffic accidents, potential liability issues for the city and the Police Department’s special events.

Healey also was selected to be a liaison to an architect hired to build the current police headquarters. He traveled to stations across Southern California and Arizona to photograph the facilities and note what officers liked and disliked about their designs.

The most enjoyable assignment, he wrote in his book, was being part of the department’s former “Santa” program — during which police helicopters flew Santa Claus to multiple local schools to greet kids and teachers and hand out candy canes during the holidays.

“I think some parents thought, ‘Oh what would happen if they had a problem with a helicopter and the kids are on the ground?’” Neth said. “So, they had reason to end it.”

Healey watched Costa Mesa grow behind a camera lens and documented the city in his book.

“The purpose is to provide our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren a better understanding of who we are, not to win any Pulitzer Prize,” he wrote in the book’s introduction.

Healey is survived by Patty Healey, his wife of 68 years; his son; daughter; and three grandchildren. A memorial service, open to all, will be held at 2 p.m. on Jan. 10 in St. Mark Presbyterian Church, 2200 San Joaquin Hills Road in Newport Beach.

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