Daniel was a shy, gentle, easy-going kid who was easy to please, a kid who wasn’t prone to complaining or whining. He was always well-mannered, respectful and obedient, never getting into any serious trouble. He was inquisitive, an avid reader and earned good grades. Like his parents, Daniel was introverted–even more so. He was talkative and playful with his family and close friends, but not so much with those with whom he was not familiar.
School
Daniel was an intelligent child. He did very well in elementary, then was selected to be in the gifted and talented program in middle school, though at one point he struggled greatly and needed some counseling. In middle school he won two National Science Olympiad awards, presented to the top ten scorers in the area of general science knowledge. In 8th grade he tied for second place. His academic achievements improved greatly at Columbine. After years as an A and B student, he had received straight A’s in the last two grading periods before the tragedy. He was a “Stretch for Excellence” award winner, having been named as the top biology student of the Columbine High School sophomore class. He died before he knew he had been selected.
In March of 1999 Daniel spent two weeks in France with his French class. He had especially enjoyed living for five days with a French family and visiting the Mont Saint Michel church on the Normandy coast.
National Honor Society
In September 1999 we were informed that Daniel had been accepted for membership into the National Honor Society. (NHS is an honorary society whose competitive membership is based on academic achievement, service to the community and teacher recommendations.) Daniel had applied for membership in the society several weeks before the tragedy at Columbine. The day we received his acceptance letter was one of those very happy/sad days for us.
We attended the ceremony on September 15, 1999. It was a bittersweet moment. We were very proud of his accomplishment, but saddened he was not there to accept it in person.
Debate and Cross Country Teams
What I most admired about Daniel was that he took on his weaknesses. He was not very athletic, yet he chose to join the cross country team at Columbine. He never managed to make the competitive squad, yet he practiced with them and cheered them on in meets.
Daniel was very introverted—the last kid who’d be willing to stand up and speak in front of other students. Yet he chose to join the debate team, despite that shyness, and became one of their best debaters. He participated in cross-examination debate, Congress, and Lincoln-Douglas debate. He earned membership in the National Forensic League. Topics he debated included alternative energy sources, genetic engineering and the rights of journalists to conceal sources. He won several excellent and superior ratings.
Waiting to Drive
Daniel was eligible to get his learner’s permit for driving at 15½ (December 25 of 1998) but because of his trip to France, piano lessons, debate competitions and other school demands, he agreed to make a sacrifice and wait until the summer of 1999 to take drivers training. That’s the kind of kid he was.
Volunteer
He was a Junior Volunteer at Swedish Hospital in his last two summers, helping in the pharmacy. He had some interest in a career in the medical or research field.
He was a walker with his family in two 10 kilometer AIDS Walks in Denver. The Mausers were volunteers in RAIN Colorado, which provided aid and companionship to an AIDS patient.
He was an occasional babysitter–someone who played with and took an interest in the children he cared for. He was a kid who volunteered to rake the leaves of a neighborhood senior citizen after the man had a heart attack.
Just for fun
He liked to ski, play video and computer games, and bike. He learned to play the piano. I was hoping that in the summer of 1999, after the leg strength he developed in cross country running, Daniel would hike up his first 14,000-foot mountain with me.
He played chess and won 2nd place in a Denver metro-area tournament as a member of the Ken Caryl Middle School Chess Club Team. Daniel was also a Cub Scout and Boy Scout for about three years.
Daniel got a broken arm while skiing, after colliding with a snowboarder.
Daniel loved the challenge of playing games with adults, including the computer versions of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, as well as trivia and knowledge games. If he wasn’t quite competitive enough for a game, he would volunteer to read the questions to the adults or participate in some other way–he loved to learn, loved to experience, loved to watch others.
Family fun included vacations, games, swimming, and hiking (especially in the red rock majesty of nearby Roxborough State Park.)
Daniel was baptized into the Roman Catholic church on September 23, 1983. He was working on receiving the sacrament of Confirmation in the Catholic Church. He would have been confirmed two weeks after his death; his class dedicated the class to him and placed a plaque in the teen program room. (A couple of years after Columbine we left the Catholic Church, largely because of the sexual abuse of boys and its treatment of women.)
Daniel had a keen interest in current events and social issues, becoming a regular reader of Time magazine. He enjoyed watching “60 Minutes” on TV. Daniel had concerns with the proliferation of guns in the U.S.
Travels
Daniel was fortunate to have had the opportunity to visit a great number of places, including France; Washington, D.C.; Disneyland, Universal Studios, Los Angeles; San Diego; Disney World and Sarasota (where he was bitten by a sting ray in the ocean!); Yellowstone National Park; Pittsburgh, PA (his dad’s hometown); Niagra Falls; Devil’s Tower, Wyoming; Mt. Rushmore, Badlands, Jewel Cave and Wall Drug, South Dakota; Las Vegas; Grand Canyon; Zion, Arches and Canyonlands National Parks in Utah; Maine and Boston; and New York City.
He saw plenty of Colorado, with visits to Mesa Verde and Rocky Mountain National Parks; Great Sand Dunes and Black Canyon National Monuments; and weekends in places like Steamboat Springs, Estes Park, Buena Vista, Trinidad, Ouray, Durango, Vail, Marble, Breckenridge, and Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. One of the family’s favorite spots was Glenwood Springs, where we loved to play miniature golf, ski, and especially swim for hours at the town’s huge hot springs pool.
Daniel Mauser Memorial Website 