Dan Frey bio

I grew up in a dysfunctional family. My parents did not get along, and there was a lot of fighting between my aggressive mother and aloof father. Eventually, my mother divorced my father, and my sister and I lived with her. She had a lot of pressure as a single mother who wanted her piece of the American dream. She got her nursing degree and began working full time, leaving us as latchkey kids. Sometimes, she would fly into a rage and hit us, with me taking the brunt of the abuse. It was bad, so I moved in with my father, who was the opposite of her, showing very little affection or attention, negative or positive.

Not being able to find the love I needed through my family, I fell obsessively hard for my high school sweetheart. When she broke up with me, I spiraled into a storm of pain and anguish. Months later, I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the same diagnosis as Mike Myers, the serial killer from the Halloween franchise. Fortunately, I was able to connect with a man named Ken Steele, who had the same diagnosis and became my mentor. After only two years with Ken, he died of a heart attack. I was not ready to move on, and the community that he connected me to became my family of choice. I wanted to stay connected and to be of service.

Twenty years, some relapses and recoveries later, COVID hit, and it was my mission to digitize Ken’s projects and to use virtual technology to build and maintain community connections and activities. I am grateful to Ken for the opportunity that I took full advantage of, and I hope that my peers can connect to their inner strengths, find activities they are passionate about, and have abundant self-love and love for their communities. No one should feel cast aside in this or any life. I believe that everyone has the potential to make a positive impact, and through Ken’s legacy, I am committed to helping others find their way to self-discovery, growth, and community connection.