By Peggy Lowe
Denver Post Staff Writer

April 23 - Daniel Mauser was a smart, shy boy who excelled in math and science but pushed himself to be an outgoing athlete.

"I think that's what I admired so much about my son,'' his father, Tom Mauser, said.

"He wasn't greatly athletic. He wasn't likely to stand up and speak to other people. Yet he took on these challanges of cross country and debate. He tried to overcome these things. He was a very lovable kid.''

Mauser, a sophmore killed Tuesday at Columbine High, received all As on his last report card. He ran cross-country, was on the debate team and recently returned from a two-week trip to Paris with his French club.

Tom Mauser, who works for the Colorado Department of Transportation, and his wife Linda have one other child, a 13-year-old daughter named Christie.

Neighbors spoke only in the highest regard about Daniel, who was "just coming into his own,'' said neighbor John Brovsky.

"He was the nicest, most innocent young boy,'' Brovsky said. "He is just a great kid.''

Although shy and reserved, Daniel was also kind. A few years ago, for instance, an elderly man down the street from the Mausers became ill and Daniel was among the first to volunteer to help, Tom Mauser said.

"He went down there and raked the leaves and asked how he could help. He was a kid who wasn't ashamed to hug his mom,'' he said.

Tom and Daniel liked to ski and camp. Daniel broke his arm a couple seasons ago when he collided with a snow boarder at Breckenridge, his father remembered. Daniel could have been going to driver's ed and working on his permit, but he and his father decided to hold off until next summer so he could concentrate on his trip to France and his other school work.

If that seemed unusual for a teenage boy, "that was the kind of kid he was,'' Tom Mauser said.

"It was a priviledge to know Daniel,'' Brovsky said.

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