Danilo Bugay Quimlat

April 20, 1952 – August 6, 2026

Danilo Bugay Quimlat was born on April 20, 1952, in Morong, Bataan, Philippines, to Emilio and Bonifacia Quimlat. He grew up alongside his siblings Rudy, Lita, Ricardo, and Cecilia.

Life in the Philippines was not always easy. The Quimlat family didn’t always have much, but they had one another—and they learned early to look out for their own.

As a young man, Danny, as most would come to know him, desperately wanted to find his place in the world. During college, that search led him to make some decisions he wasn’t exactly proud of. He lied to his family, ran away from home, and eventually found himself homeless. But then something happened that would mark him for the rest of his life.

When his father, Emilio, learned that his son was living on the streets, he went looking for him. He searched until he finally found Danny staying in an abandoned building. And instead of giving him the lecture Danny probably deserved, his father simply welcomed him home. There was nothing to explain. No apology required. His son had been lost, and now he was found.

Danny didn’t know it yet, but he had just experienced a glimpse of the Gospel he would one day spend his life proclaiming.

That second chance gave him the courage to pursue something greater. Danny applied for the U.S. Navy and, out of hundreds of applicants from his area, became one of only four selected.

That decision changed everything.

His orders eventually brought him to America, where a clerical mistake left a young Filipino sailor stranded in Philadelphia for two weeks with nowhere to stay. This was long before cell phones, Google Maps, and text messages! Danny had one phone number: his friend Jimmy De Leon.

Jimmy welcomed him into his family’s home. And then Danny walked through the door and saw Jimmy’s sister, Edna.

Suddenly, being stranded in Philadelphia didn’t seem like such a bad clerical error.

Edna De Leon would become the love of his life and eventually Mrs. Edna De Leon Quimlat.Together, Danny and Edna built a life that took them from Philadelphia to Guam, the Philippines, San Diego, New York and New Jersey, and eventually back to San Diego. Along the way came their two children, Daniel Bon and Ruthielynn.

And in time, the family Danny worked so hard to build only grew. Daniel married Monique, and Ruthie married Jerald, giving Danny another son and daughter to love—and eventually five grandchildren: Daniel Jackson, Josiah Grey, Jameson Peter, Cali Ryanne, and Bradley Matthew.

Becoming a grandfather brought Danny a whole new kind of joy. He was supposed to be called “Lolo,” but when his first grandchildren were little, “Lolo” somehow came out as “Doh-Doh.” And, like many things in the Quimlat family, once it stuck, there was no getting rid of it.

So Lolo became Doh-Doh. And Danny loved being Doh-Doh.

The man who had spent so much of his life working and sacrificing to give his children a better life now had the joy of watching another generation grow up surrounded by the family he helped build.

As an immigrant, husband, father, and sailor, Danny became determined to give his family opportunities he never had. He served honorably in the U.S. Navy for 20 years, and his sacrifice helped provide both of his children the opportunity to pursue higher education.

After retiring from the Navy, Danny took whatever work was necessary to provide for his family, including working nights as a security guard in downtown San Diego. Eventually, a friend encouraged him to pursue a career with the U.S. Border Patrol. He studied, trained, sacrificed months away from his family—and made it.

Once again, the trajectory of his life changed.

Danny would spend another 16 years serving with the Border Patrol, working long hours, double shifts, and sometimes facing dangerous situations—not because he loved working overtime, but because he loved the people waiting for him at home. He wanted Edna, Daniel, and Ruthie to experience things he could only dream about as a boy in Philippines.

But the greatest change in Danny’s life wasn’t professional. It was spiritual. A coworker and friend, Mr. Caius, began meeting with Danny before their shifts and walking with him through the book of Romans. For approximately six months, they opened the Scriptures together. And eventually Danny discovered that the story he had experienced years earlier with his earthly father was pointing him toward an even greater Father. A Father who searches for the lost.

A Father who welcomes sinners home. And a Savior named Jesus who made that homecoming possible.

Danny became a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, and anyone who knew him knew he didn’t do anything halfway. He studied theology deeply, shared the Gospel enthusiastically, preached whenever his sister Cecille gave him an opportunity on her radio station, led Bible studies, and loved studying Scripture with friends, family, and his brothers and sisters at Restored Church South Bay.

And, of course, he made people laugh alot. Ask people what they remember about Danny and eventually someone will start telling a story—and before long, everyone will be laughing. That was one of his gifts. He could bring joy into a room, often without even trying.

But for all his love of theology, preaching, evangelism, and Scripture, Danny’s greatest earthly ministry was much simpler: He loved his family. He loved Edna. He loved Daniel and Monique. He loved Ruthie and Jerald. He loved his grandchildren—and he loved being their Doh-Doh.

And no matter how old his children became, he never stopped being their dad—providing, worrying, advising, serving, praying, and loving.

The young man who once ran away from home spent the rest of his life building one. And what a home he built. A wife he adored. Children he sacrificed for. A son- and daughter-in-law he welcomed. Five grandchildren who knew him as Doh-Doh. Friends who became family. A church community he loved. And countless people who will remember his faith, his generosity, and—without question—his laughter.And the son whose father once searched until he found him eventually came to know the Heavenly Father who had been pursuing him all along.

Danny’s life was not perfect. But it was redeemed.

It was full of sacrifice, laughter, hard work, second chances, family, faith—and grace. And the Gospel Danny loved to tell others is now the hope in which we entrust him: The one who was once lost has finally gone Home.