At 101, Dave Quintana returns home

DOWNEY -- After four years and five long months, 101-year-old Dave Quintana returned to his Downey home this past Monday. 

Dave and his wife, Laura, moved to Briarcliff Manor, NY,in 2011 to live with his daughter, Mary-Ellen Quintana, and grandchildren, Douglas and Anastasia. 

“Mom was becoming very frail and when my dad fell and broke his hip while taking out the trash at 2 a.m. in 2010, that was the last straw,” said Mary-Ellen. However, she promised to take them home and stay with him after the kids graduated from high school in 2015. 

In 1951, Dave and Laura moved to Downey from Los Angeles. They built their home near North Junior High School (now Griffiths). An electrical engineer, Dave worked at North American Rockwell, helping design transistors for planes and missiles.

While Dave is happy to return to his beloved Downey, he said he wanted to come home to be with his wife, Laura, who passed away two years ago in New York at the age of 102. Laura was interred at Rose Hills in 2013 where the family has burial plots. 

Aside from visiting Laura, Dave intends to visit with old friends and his extended family who live in Southern California. 

He also said that he wants to enjoy “real avocados” from his backyard tree. Dave is pictured above on his 101st birthday.