On Dec 6th, 2012, a memorial was held for Daniel Isaac Kaplan in Van deKamp Hall at Descanso Gardens in La Canada, California. Over 200 people attended it, including aunts and uncles from as far away as Chicago, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Florida. His fellow students at Daily High School had created a wall poster containing messages from his friends. 

The service was conducted by Rev. Lynne Herod-DeVerges. Lynne is the the founder of the Center of Light Miracles, and had been counseling Daniel for over three years. Here she is giving Daniel’s eulogy.

The next speaker was Robert Richter. Daniel’s father, Will, had worked for Bob in Chicago and later, they both found themselves living in Los Angeles. An accomplished director, writer and composer, Bob never forgot to send Daniel a birthday card he’d made himself. Bob spoke about the day he and Daniel made the cooking video.

EULOGY FOR DANIEL ISAAC KAPLAN

"Those who have passed don't wish to be mourned, they wish to be celebrated"

Daniel Kaplan wrote those words after the death of his family's good friend, Paul Silver. Pretty wise words to come out of the mouth of a 12 year old. So OK, let's take his advice and celebrate Daniel's life. He was born by C Section on March 31, 1995. His mother needed the surgery because Daniel had grown into a V shape, with his butt facing down and nothing the docs could do made him turn to the proper position to have a natural birth.

This was the first indication he was a child who did things a little out of the ordinary, and was maybe just a bit stubborn about doing things his way. Children born to older parents who've been trying for some time to have a child are particularly well loved and Daniel was no exception. Before he was born his parents had decided on his name and almost immediately nicknamed him "Boone", as in Daniel Boone.

That quickly changed to Boonie, a name that stuck with him all his life. When he was little, he liked it; when he got older, not so much; but lately he'd taken to allowing it to be used again. Daniel lived his entire life in the house on Las Palmas Ave surrounded by other families with children his own age. They were the living embodiment of the notion that it takes a village to raise a child. Most of the neighbors knew each other well, socialized at holiday Bar-B-Qs, sometimes vacationed together and generally watched out for each other's kids as if they were their own. Daniel grew up in an environment where he knew he was loved not only within his house, but outside it as well.

One of the first amazing things about Daniel was his early grasp of language. He was talking by 9 months and forming complete sentences by his 1st birthday. He was curious about everything and could be a lightning fast learner for one so young. He had a way of connecting with certain adults that went way beyond just being cute. When he was three, the family got a mixed breed mountain dog called Duplo that became his friend and companion. He loved animals. He had a huge heart.

He did all the normal things kids do around here. Went to pre-school, Gymboree and he and his mom participated in the Mom's Club, an organization of women who shared playdates, advice and really fine fellowship. Many of the friends they both made have lasted to this day. When it came time to enter elementary school, it was a no brainer where he'd go: John C Fremont, just down the street.

From Kindergarten to 6th grade, every day his mother or father walked him down the block to join his friends in one of the nicest elementary campuses in the state. During his time there, he was in the Gifted Student Program, played trumpet and trombone in the school band, worked in the school cafeteria and enjoyed an excellent academic record. His photographs for the Reflections arts program took him as far as the regional finals. But it was the essay he wrote for the Imagine That contest, sponsored by the California Agricultural dept, that proved to be his crowning glory. It was called The Adventures of Compost Man and it was the 5th grade statewide winner. He and his family travelled to Sacramento, where the piece was animated by a group of talented high school students into a live action comic book. You can still see it today on their website.

Daniel tried his hand at many different sports. Soccer, baseball, basketball, snow boarding. He practiced Karate for several years where he won awards and earned a brown belt. And he loved to surf. Honestly, he’d try just about anything that looked fun. But it wasn't until he got into rollerblading and skateboarding that he truly found his passion. Going fast was something he dearly loved and he was fearless. Unfortunately, going fast comes with some risks and over the years he broke his arms several times, each needing a titanium rod to make sure it didn't happen again. He became especially fascinated with the Balinese knife skills called Bali Song and practiced religiously until he could flip the butterfly knife over his hands like a pro. But music was his true love. He studied drums and had a rock trio in middle school. He liked to play songs on the guitar and began writing songs. His dream was to be a music producer.

At the end of his 8th grade year at Rosemont Jr High, he began complaining of stomach pains that wouldn't go away. He was taken to the doctors who diagnosed him with appendicitis. Only when they opened him up, they found what he really had was Crohn's disease. From that point on, he embarked on a long and painful aspect of his life that he struggled valiantly to overcome. The condition began to cause him to miss a lot of school. As a sophomore, he developed a condition called pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that is both incredibly painful and hard to heal. He spent 3 weeks in the hospital with nothing to live on but IV feeding tubes and morphine. And a year later, he got it again. This second bout left him with permanent pains in his stomach, to go along with the Crohn's pain in his intestines. He suffered greatly but always tried to downplay it to his friends and teachers. He even managed to take a student exchange trip to Germany which one of the highlights of his life. He dreamed of going back after he turned eighteen.

Also during this time he began his love of Electronic Dance Music, particularly a genre called Dub Step. He and his friends would spend hours listening to the hypnotic beats and cackle with glee at the 'drop', the place where the beat would come in heavy. Those of you unfamiliar with this kind of music...probably wouldn't like it. But Daniel sure did. He managed to get rides from his friends and parents to various EDM concerts all over Southern California and beyond. He could tell you all about the different artists and where their sounds differed, not always an easy thing for those of us raised on the Beatles (although he loved the Beatles too!). He attended the Coachella music festival a couple of times and even went with his mother and girlfriend, Tory, to a festival in the Michigan woods. He was particularly good at making light shows with gloves that contained LED lights.

His girlfriend deserves special mention, too. Victoria Montenegro and Daniel had just celebrated 2 years of dating. They made each other laugh, saw movies, religiously watched The Walking Dead and, most especially, could hang out for hours without having to say much of anything. They had that rare combination of love and real friendship.

And it was also during this hard medical time that he made his best friends. Guys with names like Haik, Harley, Victor, Steven, Matt and Jorge to name a few. He felt that his absences at school had made him an outsider with the kids there but among this group of friends, he was accepted and loved.

Daniel's medical condition suffered many setbacks during his short life, which derailed a lot of his plans. But just recently, he had begun treatment with the Whole Child LA program team of doctors out of UCLA lead by Paul and Lonnie Zeltzer. He also had help from local doctors Dr. Durand and Dr. Hu, for the first time in 3 years, he began to feel some relief from the relentless gut pains that greeted him every morning and made it so hard to get his day started. He had begun to have optimism for the future and was really enjoying learning how to drive.

Most of you know that last Saturday night, Daniel and two of his friends were riding in a car on a wet back road. The car lost control and crashed into a retaining wall. He was in the passenger seat and was killed instantly. We are told he didn't suffer. Thankfully, the other two escaped major injury.

Loving, bright, talented, intuitive, witty, loyal to his friends, prone to anger when he thought there was injustice, yes – stubborn, brave, and funny as all get out.

He was the joy of his parents' life.

This is who we lost. This is who we celebrate.