Saying goodbye to a parent, dear friend or someone who has left an indelible mark on a life or the lives of many is never easy. The holidays, where we find ourselves today, often serve to compound our grief. That is why we are told that it is always wise to temper it with a clear, lasting memory of what made the person special. David Mejia was that person.
Mr. Mejia, as thousands of West High School students knew him over the years, passed away on November 20th, just as this year’s holidays were arriving and 11 days before his 94th birthday. He died in the same Park Hill home he and his family shared for decades. But, like a pebble tossed into a pond and the endless circles it generates, Mr. Mejia’s mark just continues on.
The legacy is unmistakable on the thirteen children he and wife, Ophelia, raised. Its outline is also on his 52 grandchildren, said James Mejia, whose name is easily recognized across Denver.
Firmly entrenched in his own life and himself now a father, Mejia thinks about the arc of his own Dad’s life; the young man, the Marine, the husband, the teacher, the mentor and, most of all, the father, each segmented like facets on a jewel.
“He was a tough guy,” said Mejia. “If you ask my sib- lings, they would say the same thing.” Candidly, he could be “rough around the edges.” But it’s understandable, Mejia chuckled, “with thirteen children.”
But being rough is not the same as being mean. That, his father was not. Mr. Mejia, he said, always had time for each of his children and also time for their many friends who lived nearby. He had a soft spot for kids, especially for “kids who were trying to improve their lives.” That meant getting involved in all kinds of activities both in school and out of school. Mejia said his father was also a coach in more than a few sports.
“I remember growing up playing football, basketball, street hockey…we were always outside during the sum- mers,” Mejia recalled. Team Mejias would “arrive together and leave together.” The routine was by edict—Mr. Mejia’s. “It was a fantastic way to grow up.”
It is no surprise that all of the Mejia children attended college with all but two earning degrees, including a pair earning Ph.Ds. But degree or no degree, all have achieved professional success. A few have followed their father with careers in education, others in finance or own their own business. One, brother Rob, is a professor of cannabis at an east coast university. Their sister, Theresa, passed away. Sheheldadoctorateinbusinessconsulting. Aneclectic and educated brood, to be sure.
Mejia, a Notre Dame graduate, says he encounters people all the time who tell him how Mr. Mejia touched their lives. “I’m very proud of his impact.” Of course, not every kid has the same review. “But 95 percent of the time, the reviews are glowing.”
It was in the mid-1950’s when Mr. Mejia attended the University of Northern Colorado, then Colorado State College, in Greeley. It was also at a time when Latinos were literally and figuratively minorities on campus. It’s also where he met a young Ophelia Garcia, the woman who would become his wife and partner for life.
Teaching, however, was much more than a job to Mr. Mejia. He was, his son said, always curious and a lifelong learner. “No question.” At West High, where he spent the majority of his career, he taught social studies, his- tory and Chicano history. Curiously, said Mejia, while he taught Chicano history, “it was hard to engage him in Civil Rights.” Education and lifelong learning were his fallbacks and consistent mantra.
Mejia marvels at how, with so many children, his parents maintained a balance with their children and their lives. That many kids, he said, can be expensive. “My parents,” he laughed, “had an uncanny way of using all their resources.” Dining at home and together was nearly mandatory. “We did not go out to eat…and we shared everything we had, much to the annoyance of older siblings.”
Mejia has carved his own mark across the city. He’s served as president of Denver’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, played a vital role in former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb’s administration, including overseeing construction of the new jail and also ran an unsuccessful campaign for Denver mayor. While he fell a bit short there, he says he finds it more than rewarding that his father lived to witness his climb.
As he examines the arc of his own life, Mejia celebrates the man and the father who made it all possible. “For me, he was my role model in so many regards,” said Mejia. “He’s the one who spent time with me and getting me involved with the things I’ve done. I was enabled by my parents.”
Still, as his dad’s life wound down, Mejia couldn’t help but look back to those days playing soccer or tennis or whatever sport it may have been with a much younger version of his father. The ‘compare-and-contrast’ clash moment, he said, can create a well of emotion.
“When you have a giant of a man, so mentally and physically adept,” he pauses, “when that disappears and you see him wheelchair bound and bed-bound, you have to go through some processing.”
The loss, as it does for all of us, will pass. That is simply the way life works. But the memories for Mejia, his dozen siblings and the 52 children of the clan, survive. For the holidays, one Mejia readily acknowledges will be emo- tional and challenging. Each of the siblings will share their own remembrance of a life well lived.
A memorial mass will be held for David Mejia December 11th at 10:00 a.m. at Denver’s Blessed Sacrament Church, 4900 Montview Boulevard. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested a donation be made in the name of David Mejia to the DPS Supplemental Benefits Program in care of DPS Acoma Campus, 1617 S. Acoma Street, Denver, CO 80223.
