Mickey & Ellen Duyck

Operations Manager

Mickey was born and raised in the mountains of Western NC. He is the younger of two sons born to Eugene and Joyce Duyck. He was saved at age 11 in the Missionary Baptist Church that his family attended.

Ellen was born in Orlando, FL. She is the older of 2 daughters. She was saved at age 7 and baptized soon after. She lived in FL until age 13, but then her family moved to Asheville, NC where her dad was pursuing work.

Mickey & Ellen met in their junior year of High School and started dating during 12th grade. After graduation in 1992 they married and Mickey joined the ARMY. During the five and a half years of active duty service they lived in Colorado, South Korea and Georgia. While at their last duty station, Ft. Benning, Mickey took an introductory flight and became “hooked” on aviation.

After leaving the military, Mickey completed his aircraft maintenance training at Guilford Technical Community College. He graduated from the two-year program with his A&P. He was employed with Cessna Aircraft Company for over 17 years at their Greensboro North Carolina Citation Service Center. During A&P school he started as line service and worked his way through the mechanic ranks. In 2013 he took a position in management as shift supervisor and held that role until coming to Alaska. He is factory-trained on every model of Citation airframe and associated engines/APU`s. Mickey holds an IA certificate, private pilot license with SEL, SES and Glider ratings. He is also multidiscipline NDT certified and holds a FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License. He enjoys working on and flying antique, classic and home-built aircraft. Mickey and a close friend built an experimental Van`s RV-7a over the course of 10 years. It was certified and flown in 2013.

Ellen earned her AAS degree in Computer Science from Columbus State University, while they lived in GA. Upon leaving the military, she earned her ADN in nursing from Davidson County Community College and became licensed as an RN. Afterward, she completed her BSN from Winston-Salem State University. Ellen then completed her MSN at East Carolina University, and became certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She finished up her education, earning a Doctorate of Nursing Practice at the University of Alabama. Since coming to Alaska, she has completed a graduate certificate in addiction studies through the University of South Dakota. This knowledge has greatly helped her in her volunteer role at a local faith-based addiction recovery ministry.

Post military, Mickey and Ellen found and joined a good, Bible-believing church. During this time of stable home life and regular attendance, they started to really grow in their faith. It was also during this period, that God brought traditional missions into their lives. As their church
hosted various missionaries during furlough or deputation periods, exposure to these individuals began to soften their hearts to missions--though the call was years away.

During a trip to the Oshkosh Airshow in 2006, Mickey visited the mission area and met the Director of Aviation for JAARS. That short conversation had a huge impact on his life, especially regarding technical missions. By January 2008, God had worked things out to where Mickey and Ellen were able to volunteer about every other week at the JAARS center in Waxhaw, NC. Ellen assisted at the medical clinic and Mickey helped in the hangar. God used this regular three-day period to slowly turn their hearts toward full-time missions. It was also a wonderful time of instruction and mentoring by career missionaries. By June of 2008, Mickey had surrendered to the call of full-time missions. God had presented a path where a technical-minded person could serve in a full-time ministry capacity! After hearing of MARC from a JAARS pilot, he visited in February of 2010 for a short work session in the hangar. After going home and praying for a week or so, he knew this is where God wanted him. Their whole family attended candidacy in September 2010. The housing market in their portion of NC had been a challenge but their house finally sold in August of 2016.

Since arriving at MARC in October of 2016 Mickey has served in various capacities where needed. This includes maintenance, administration, and safety.

Ellen stays busy at her day job, serving on the board of the local pregnancy care center, volunteering at the addiction recovery ministry, and taking great pride in offering medical care to the MARC staff.

They have been blessed with two boys, Logan and Sebastian.