By Catherine Wu

Published May 23, 2025, 1:43 a.m., last updated May 23, 2025, 1:53 a.m.

Daniel Garcia started as a caregiver at the Children's Center of the Stanford Community -- a parent cooperative offering early childhood learning programs -- in 1970, when he dropped out of Stanford as a sophomore. Over 50 years since, and now as a support teacher and self-described musician, court jester, storyteller and fun uncle for the center, Garcia says he has known 1,000 two-year-olds in his lifetime.

"Believe it or not, some of the children in my original class are retiring before me," Garcia said.

In 2020, Garcia was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. He received a stem cell transplant in 2022 and has spent the past several months away from the CCSC undergoing CAR T-cell therapy.

Pending his health, Garcia hopes to return to the classroom in July to "get my beautiful life back" to see the "chapter that I'm missing," he said.

Daniel Garcia often brings little drums and other items to lessons. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Lim)

Among the different age groups of children, Garcia enjoys working with two-year-olds most, who are in a formative and learning stage of their lives, whereas at age three they become "jaded" and "know everything," he said.

"I like origin stories," Garcia said. "Like when a superhero comes into his powers, he has to go through a phase, a kind of adolescent phase; that's where toddlers are."

In recent years, Garcia has also taught one-year-olds, who he says have a "palpable concentration" on the items he brings, ranging from guitars to little drums.

"This is my great joy: sharing music and stories with children. That has become more and more my role and less and less of the day-to-day child care. I am the pied piper," Garcia said.

CCSC Program Operations Coordinator Lisa Brosnan-Yepremian wrote to The Daily that Garcia "has always had a unique gift for capturing attention and connecting with children through music, storytelling, and creative play. He has an incredible ability to tune into their curiosity and interests, tailoring his teaching style to truly engage them."

"CCSC is Daniel, and Daniel is CCSC," Rachel Lim, CCSC's interim executive director, said. "There is no parent or family that I know who has come back to CCSC and not asked for him." Lim's own sons were also taught by Garcia and are now in high school.

Brosnan-Yepremian has known Garcia for ten years, since his classroom was the first she shadowed. "I was immediately mesmerized by the way he drew you in with his storytelling," Brosnan-Yepremian wrote to The Daily. "He was reading a book to the children, and his warm yet animated delivery completely captivated not just the little ones -- barely two years old -- but also me."

"As an adult, we sometimes neglect to see the world through a child's point of view. He doesn't -- he sees the world through a child's lens, and never lets us... forget it," Lim said.

Roxy Resuma, CCSC's Big Kids' Place program coordinator, described Garcia's way of connecting with the children: "He can get wonderfully silly with them, but he also has this charming knack for capturing their attention, even when reading a more serious story."

"We miss him every day. CCSC is a little bit quieter without his music throughout the center. We look forward to hearing his music again," Lim said. "I only wish that we can shine brightly for Daniel right now to give him strength and hope, as he has for us all these years."

Part of a thousand-paper-cranes project dedicated to Garcia. (Photo courtesy of Rachel Lim)

This February, Brosnan-Yepremian organized a fundraiser to support Garcia's battle.

When news of his health became known, both current and past families who connected with Garcia contacted him.

One woman, whom Garcia taught as a two-year-old and is now 23, shared with him that she was moved by his music and now plays music in a hospital to cancer patients herself, according to Garcia.

Another mother, whose two-year-old son Garcia referred to as "having the baseball gene," told Garcia that her son is now on his high school's varsity baseball team. "She said I think about Daniel when I watch my son pitch varsity," Garcia said.

Garcia's impact extends beyond the children and their families to those around him in the CCSC.

"You don't really meet a lot of people in life that are like that," Lim said. He's very down to earth."

Resuma recalled the "incredible impact" that Garcia has had on the community throughout the years. "He's brought children, families and educators together, making everyone feel so welcomed, loved, and truly a part of the community," Resuma wrote.

"He wants zero clout, zero recognition, zero applause," CCSC's Little Kids' Place Coordinator Ashley Thomas told The Daily. "He doesn't want anything but to see teachers, parents, and children thriving. No matter what goes on with him medically, he's always rooting for the next person."

Catherine Wu '28 is the Vol. 267 Desk Editor for the Arts & Life Culture beat and a beat reporter for the News Campus Life desk.

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https://stanforddaily.com/2025/05/23/meet-daniel-garcia-the-childrens-centers-resident-musician-storyteller-and-pied-piper/

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