FOR CITIZEN-TO-BE QUELLER, IT'S A WORLD OF INVOLVEMENT.

Byline: Mary Vose Daily News Staff Writer

Alexander Queller of West Hills will be 82 this month.

He walks daily, drives and attends school to improve his English pronunciation.

He wanted to be able to vote and be more involved as an American, so he attended a citizenship class at Canoga Park High School two nights a week from early February through the end of June.

He completed the course, passed the citizenship examination and was fingerprinted and photographed along with 32 classmates. He's now waiting for his interview with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and is hoping to be sworn in later this year.

Born in Austria, he moved with his family during World War I to Yugoslavia, where he attended a Croatian elementary school.

After the war, Queller moved with his family to Poland. From 1936 to '39, he attended a school in Italy where he learned to sail, so he and his classmates would be able to obtain boats to help get Jews out of Europe and to safety.

Queller also fled, but first, he returned to Poland to say goodbye to his parents. The next day, the Germans invaded, and he never saw his parents again. Poland fell to the Germans, and England and France warred with Germany. He enlisted in the British army in Palestine.

When Greece was invaded by Hitler's army, Queller was parachuted into that country, then captured. But he escaped and worked for the British as a spy.

After he was released from the army in 1946, Queller remained a civilian in Palestine until the state of Israel was established in 1948. He joined the Israeli Army and remained in its engineering corps until he retired in 1969.

A widower for 31 years, he came to the United States five years ago to be with his only family - his son, Abe, daughter-in-law, Rina, and three granddaughters, ages 14, 12 and 8.

``I love California's lakes, beaches, mountains and seeing the redwoods, sequoias and driving with my son through the Sierras,'' Queller said.

He also enjoys playing bridge twice a week and watching the Learning Channel and KCET.

Rina Queller said he is so great at fixing things around the house that her daughters go to their grandfather whenever something of theirs needs repairing.

``I wish everybody his age would have the privilege of feeling and behaving the way he does,'' she said.

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Photo: Photographer Jose Reyes, left, poses Alexander Quell er for a photo to be taken for Queller's citizenship certificate.

Terri Thuente/Daily News