Father Attends Classes For Injured Daughter While She Recuperates At Home From Car Accident, He Sits Through College Lessons And Teaches Her At Home

It was the first day of classes at Bellevue Community College when Sarah Fairbanks’ tire blew out, sending her car whirling out of control across Interstate 405.

The last thing the freshman from Kirkland wanted to do was drop her courses for the quarter. But the wreck left her injured; her vision was blurred, and several cuts required more than 60 stitches.

It was her dad, Randy Fairbanks, who woefully advised her to drop out and resume classes after winter break - until he came up with an ambitious idea: For five mornings each week, 47-year-old Randy Fairbanks would pack spiral-bound notebooks and pencils into his collegiate backpack and head for campus until his recuperating daughter felt well enough to go to school, volunteering to attend Sarah’s classes and bring the lessons home to her.

“He’s been coming home and teaching me what I’ve missed, and I’ve been reading the chapters,” Sarah, 18, said in an interview before returning to classes last week.

Fairbanks knew his daughter was enthusiastic about the classes, which she attended only once, on Sept. 23. She wanted to stay enrolled, and he wanted to help if he could.

“When things like this happen, you want to do what you can,” said Fairbanks, a biologist for a Bellevue consulting firm. “It’s not that big of a deal. I enjoy it.”

But something seemed slightly different about Fairbanks compared with other students at the college. Perhaps it was his button-down appearance in contrast to the popular baggy jeans and lug-soled boots. Or his classroom demeanor, which was relentlessly attentive.

And while many students sat in his speech class jotting down bits of the lecture topics or day-dreaming, Fairbanks took pages of detailed notes. So thorough, in fact, that Sarah says other students asked him if they could copy.

“He’s amazing,” Sarah says. “School, work - and then he takes care of me when he comes home. It’s been unbelievable.”

Immediately after the accident and throughout her gradual recuperation, Randy Fairbanks says Sarah’s optimism and spirit have made him proud. He says he is glad he could help his daughter from missing out on her first college quarter.

“She’s been such an inspiration to me, my wife and my family. The way she’s handled all of this, it just makes it easy,” he says.

And as for note-taking, in-class assignments and study sessions with his daughter, Fairbanks didn’t seem to mind. It reminded him of younger days, when he spent seven years at the University of Washington.

“It brings back memories, walking around campus. I feel like I’m 20 again,” said Fairbanks, with a chuckle. “But it brings me back to reality when a student comes up and asks if I’m their professor.”

Alan Yabui, who teaches Sarah Fairbanks’ Speech 102 class, offered to meet with Sarah to help her get caught up in the course work. Yabui was receptive to the idea when Randy Fairbanks asked permission to attend class for a few weeks.

“I thought it was great,” Yabui says. “I asked him to stay for the rest of the quarter.”

Fairbanks had to reduce his hours at work to accommodate his new college schedule. Fortunately, his employer has been understanding.

“I’ve been giving a little more priority at school and home than at work,” he admits.