The death of Mr. Greven

The highly visible and active local disability advocate Greg Greven, 42, died when his van caught on fire in his driveway Thursday night. I heard about his death from a city press release on Friday that expressed the condolences of city leaders for the chairman of the Mayor's Commission on Human Rights. I learned more about his death and its local impact in the News-Leader story that followed.

I met Greven when he was still working with the Southwest Center for Independent Living. I wrote a small feature on him for the Community Free Press as an intern called "Advocate, Volunteer, Advisor" (Page 19, Oct. 10, 2007 issue). Since being on the city beat at the business journal, I have seen Greven at every council meeting. He sat in front of me toward the back of the room. I said "hi" to him once recently, and he said "hi" back, but I don't know that he remembered me.

When I read that he'd died, I automatically said to myself, "That can't be--I just saw him Monday night." As if, my seeing him ought to have prevented his death, somehow.

My sit-down interview with Greven in 2007 left an impression on me. First of all, he could care less that I was featuring him. He was more interested in talking about issues that touched the lives of disabled people. Second, I came away from the experience sobered by the reminder that life has severe consequences.

Greven became disabled from a 1989 automobile accident. The details are fuzzy now, but I recall that he said he loved to drive fast. At the time of the interview, he was preparing to take a group of disabled individuals to Lucus Oil Speedway. His brother, Kevin Greven, was the track manager. Cars, Greg said, were a big part of his young life. He seemed genuinely excited when he talked about the track.

For whatever reason, I fell into a brief daydream looking at Greven's limp hand hanging by the side of his wheelchair on Monday night. He was directly in front of me. I tried to imagine his hand as mine. I wondered how much of it he could feel, and how often he must have been frustrated by its limited usefulness.

Greg Greven got out in the snow Monday night and went to a council meeting. He wasn't there to speak or be a sounding board for an ordinance related to accessibility. There was no such bill, and I can't think of any reason for him to be there or at any of the recent meetings except that he wanted to be.

Many may have heard about Greven's story and thought it was tragic. While his death was horrible news, I think Greven's story itself is inspiring. RIP, Mr. Greven.