Cheon-Ju Park/Jesse Dylan Diaz
00157-65700
Living Obituary of Jesse Dylan Diaz
Jesse Dylan Diaz, who prefers to go by “Dylan”, is from Denver, Colorado and was born
in August of 1988. He lived in Denver right up until the end of summer before his senior year.
He moved to the town of Winamac, Indiana, where much of his family is from. This new small
town setting gave him a whole new perspective on life. Besides the fact that anyone can find out
anything they want to about a person, it has a great sense of community which Denver lacks.
Overall, he feels as if the small (Winamac) to midsize towns (like West Lafayette) are better
places to live.
Going into a new high school for your senior year seems like it would be a very difficult
thing to do, which he feels it would have been if it had been anywhere but Winamac. When he
first started there was a lot of confusion about who he was and where he was from, many people
thought he was the German exchange student. One of the things that he likes most about the
town that he lived in for that year, and still goes back to, is that once you know one person you
can meet practically anyone. This setting inspired him to be more of a person that took any
opportunity he could get. There was no longer the sense of letting people you don’t know
impose on his life. This new mindset leads to many great things such as great jobs,
snowboarding, great friends, and great times.
Dylan is now known for his personality where if he says he is going to do something,
then the chances are pretty good that if you think he won’t, then he will. A few such instances
that were most surprising to the person doubting him are; wearing a wetsuit, flippers, and a mask,
and then going into a few restaurants in search of the ocean, bringing a toaster into Class of 50
because he wanted warm pop tarts that day. A final example is about a rainy day when his
cousin said he couldn’t slide his jeep around a curve. After about two back-to-back 180’s and a
360, the conversation went like this;
Cousin: “I thought you were going to kill me!”
Dylan: “I told you, I got it.”
Cousin: “That is LAST time that I ever say you can’t do something.”
In summary, Dylan wants to live his life as an honest, independent and dependable
person. He feels that if he had not made the move to a small town then he would be a different
person with a different outlook on how he wants to live his life.