The graduate

Mathis Winkler

On Friday, David Queen missed work for the first time in 12 years.

But his absence didn’t upset his supervisors at the Newport Beach

Public Library. The 44-year-old library page didn’t shelve books because

he joined thousands of other students at Cal State Long Beach and

graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.

“I feel free,” he said after hugging his mother, Glenna. “It’s a great

feeling of accomplishment. It’s been one of the biggest challenges of my

life.”

For most of the others, the ceremony marked the end to a four-year

college career. Queen, on the other hand, has spent more than a

quarter-century inching closer to his goal, ever since suffering brain

injuries during a car accident as a college freshman.

A night that altered lives

Glenna and John Queen had already gone to bed on Oct. 16, 1975, when

the phone rang and a police officer gave them the news that would change

their lives.

Returning from a high school football game with three of his friends,

David, then 18, had been severely injured in a car accident.

A passenger in the car, David and his friends had been hit by another

vehicle, whose driver had missed a stop sign. One boy in David’s group

died on the spot; the others walked away from the crash without major

problems.

But suffering five skull fractures and injuries to his brain stem,

David lay comatose in intensive care. When his parents arrived at the

hospital, doctors could not promise them that their son would survive.

After conducting brain surgery, David’s caretakers had slightly better

news.

“Your son is going to live,” a doctor told Glenna Queen. “But we can’t

tell you what kind of person he’s going to be.”

The accident devastated her. But her positive outlook on life soon

pushed away feelings of despair.

“I do believe that our prayers are often answered,” she said, adding

that friends and family members supported her and her husband during

David’s stay at the hospital.

“I don’t think I had to cook dinner for the entire three months,” she

said.

And while David inherited his late father’s humor, according to

Glenna, he also came away with a dose of his mother’s optimism in the

mixing of genes.

“Everything had to happen,” he said, adding that he remembers nothing

about the accident and only a little about the period of his life during

which it occurred. “That’s the way it was meant to be. I don’t dwell on

much.”

Instead, after three months in the hospital and about a year of

rehabilitation, he soon focused on returning to school.

Battling the consequences of the crash, which included short-term

memory loss, sleep disorders and bouts of depression, David

unsuccessfully struggled to keep jobs until he began working at the

library 12 years ago.

But his dream to get a college degree motivated him throughout the

years.

“I wanted to have a goal to head toward,” David said. “To give me

direction.”

So he began taking college classes again -- one or two at a time --

and received an associate’s degree from Pasadena City College five years

later. He also attended USC, Cal Poly Pomona, Coastline, Orange Coast and

Golden West colleges before finally settling on Cal State Long Beach in

1996.

John Snidecor, David’s advisor in the latter university’s fine arts

department, remembered him as a “real standout” from day one.

“He’s my favorite” advisee, Snidecor said, adding that he serves 1,400

students. “I could tell that things are a bit of a struggle for David,

but he’s been so determined to get through it. I already miss him,

because we have had nice conversations.”

Snidecor added that David had maintained very good grades throughout

his college years.

Forcing the mind to remember

Because the accident affected David’s short-term memory, remembering

the things he’s been taught probably presented the biggest problem for

him.

But then again, “I’ve passed courses in history and biology,” he said.

“So it’s not that bad.”

He took good notes in class and read them over and over again.

“It’s like scribbling it into memory,” he said Thursday, filing videos

at the library. “The more you go over it, the more you remember it.”

He’d also bring books along to the beach and study them while walking

in the sand or feeding a sea gull he befriended on a pier.

“My mind is at ease then,” he said.

Like the main character in the recent movie “Memento,” who uses notes

and tattoos to hunt down his wife’s killer after losing his short-term

memory, David has figured out ways to stay on top.

He always carries a tiny notebook in his pocket to jot down things he

needs to remember later on. Entries range from the obvious, such as

grocery lists, to things he wants to tell his mother and a note to attend

the May 22 groundbreaking ceremony for the Balboa Theater.

A “Bulldozer Ballet,” the theater’s first commissioned dance piece,

had attracted him to the event.

“It was a little ludicrous,” he said, but the note reminded him to go.

Until 12 years ago, David lived with his parents in their Eastbluff

home. But then the family decided that it would be best for him to have

his own place, and David moved into a government-subsidized apartment

complex on Irvine’s University Drive.

There, the sinks are a little lower and all aspects of the apartment

are designed to give access to handicapped people. Emergency assistance

is also available.

“I’ve never had to use it though,” said David, who takes no medication

and hasn’t had any seizures.

He drives to school and to his job at the library, where he works

mornings five days a week.

Content with the state of things.

Getting in about 7:30 a.m., David’s one of the first to arrive at the

library. He opens the front doors for visitors and helps to get his

colleagues started, said Melissa Kelly, the library’s circulation manager

and David’s supervisor.

“I think the word that sums David up most clearly is ‘dependable,”’

Kelly said. “He does a great job, and he’s been doing it for a long time.

He’s always here for us, and we all look forward to it every morning.”

LaDonna Kienitz, the city librarian, also has nothing but praise to

offer.

“We are just extremely proud how hard he’s worked to accomplish this,”

she said, adding that library officials will honor David with a

celebration Monday.

His mother has also organized a June 10 party for David’s graduation.

The catering costs have forced her to postpone the real graduation gift

to her son: a cruise in the South Pacific Ocean.

Judging from the way his eyes light up every time he talks about the

planned trip, David’s clearly excited to visit that part of the world.

“I’m not going to forget” the promise to go on the cruise, he said.

“And I don’t want her to forget it either.”

He’ll take along his camera and use the pictures to paint when he

returns, he said.

But while he’s had his works displayed at City Hall and the library,

David said he knows that becoming a professional artist is not a choice

right now.

“It would be nice to make a living, but I don’t see it in the near

future,” he said.

And at least for now, he’s also not thinking about returning to school

again.

“I’ve been on this treadmill for a long time now,” he said, adding

that he’ll frame his diploma and hang it in his apartment.

“I want to step off and relax for a while. If I get stuck with

ambition in the future -- maybe. But I’m content right now.”