Environmental geologist Dave Leone was in the business of coming into a site and ultimately making things better. Having found a firm that fit him and even expecting a child, things in his own environment seemed to be going great. Then, in one unexpected moment, he realized his life had changed forever. Find out how finding focus beyond yourself can give you a way to get back on track.
Guest Dave Leone realized during college that his interest in chemistry might not be long lived. Instead, he found earth sciences. Upon graduation, he options were graduate school, petroleum geology, or environmental geology. He found a small environmental firm that let him do a little of everything and then moved on to a larger firm where he has stayed for nearly a quarter century, assessing contaminated properties and remediating them for beneficial use.
It was at the firm—during a 200-mile charity bike ride—that he met his wife. And after buying a house and expecting a baby, life looked good. Then, in one unexpected moment falling off a ladder one Labor Day weekend, he realized his life had changed forever.
In this episode, find out from Dave how finding focus beyond yourself can give you a way to get back on track…on Roads Taken with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
Dave Leone is Associate Principal at GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. in Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife and son. He is a geologist with over 20 years of experience performing hazardous waste site investigations and remediation work at state-regulated hazardous waste sites.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Dave Leone: He was 29 weeks so you know very early. Three pounds. So just a little peanut. But it changed everything. ‘cause suddenly, you know, I had focus. It wasn't just about me. You know holy crap I've got a kid, let's you know get your act together and start living life.
Leslie Jennings Rowley: Environmental geologist Dave Leone was in the business of coming into a site and ultimately making things better. Having found a firm that fit him and even expecting a child, things in his own environment seemed to be going great. Then, in one unexpected moment, he realized his life had changed forever. Find out how finding focus beyond yourself can give you a way to get back on track...on today's Roads Taken, with me, Leslie Jennings Rowley.
Today I'm here with Dave Leone and we are going to talk about where we think our roads are going to take us and the unexpected and how somehow we get back on track, so Dave thanks so much for being here.
DL: Thank you for having me.
LJR: Excellent. So I start this the same way with all of our guests, each time asking two questions, and they are these: When we were in college, who were you? And when we were getting ready to leave who did you think you would become?
DL: I've almost been dreading this question and I listened to a few of these and you know, listening to other people I'm kind of envious that you know all these people who had their lives planned out or who have thoughts about who they were, where they were going. I got to Dartmouth, and I was lost. I was you know kind of sheltered as a kid. My dad was a firefighter my mom was a stay at home mother. And I just I got to to Hanover and was kind of awestruck at all of the different people and all of the different experiences and everything else, and I was lost. You know I went to school, I went to Dartmouth to be a chemistry major. I took one chemistry course my freshman fall and absolutely hated it. So I spent the next you know year or two trying to figure out where I fit in. I went through a couple of different friend groups, you know, mostly my own fault for being just kind of an idiot. And then, you know, finally found my place. And that was actually the earth science department and I kind of went through the course catalog and crossed out a lot of what don't I like, what I didn’t want to do and ended up with geology as something that really, really interested me. And you know I had some great experiences there. But then, when I graduated, Im like okay what am I going to do with this and my options were go back to school and get a master's degree, which I didn't want to do. Go into petroleum geology, which I also didn't want to do. Or go into environmental geology. And that's where I ended up. So after a little while, you know a couple months after I graduated, I got a job doing the environmental consultant work and found that I really liked it.
LJR: I will say that career services I'm sure helped lots of people…not a lot of environmental geology or kind of consulting firms coming to town. So how did you create those networks for yourself to put you on your path?
DL: It was kind of the old fashioned way um so I was sitting at home going through the job ads in the local paper trying to figure out, you know, well I've got a degree, what can I do with it. Ended up at a very small firm in Acton, Massachusetts. It was maybe a 20-person firm. But because it was so small, it gave me an opportunity to do a whole bunch of different things. And then, after about two years I realized I don't like the small firm. I want to work somewhere bigger. I got a job at GZA, which is where I am now and I’ve been here for 24 years.
LJR: It's amazing and did you know you always wanted to stay in the geography, you know Massachusetts ? Or had that big firm been someplace else, were you open to that at that point?
DL: At the time I was open to moving around and we actually have offices across much of the United States but partly the reason I stayed here is, I know that my wife and she was in a local to the area and don't know we've had a lot of family here, so we ended up just stone local.
LJR: Yeah and that probably comes back to help in the end. So with the environmental geology excuse me like can you just talk about what it is that an environmental..
DL: Sure sure. In environmental consulting we are essentially tasked with helping our clients to assess and remediate contaminated properties. So you know, think chemical plants, manufactured gas plants, fuel storage areas. Places that have just this long history of industrial use where there's contamination in soil and groundwater, in wetland sediment, in indoor air. We come in and we look at these properties and develop ways to remediate them for beneficial use. So we’ve worked on everything from you know, a couple hundred dollar review or somebody else's report to you know, a $10 million cleanup of a former Monsanto plant. So it's a lot of different types of properties, a lot of different types of contamination. It keeps us on our toes. It keeps things interesting.
LJR: Yeah and probably not just the science of it, but I mean that speaks to business and policy and community and economic justice, environmental justice, all those things, right?
DL: Yeah yep. So there's a lot of interaction with local governments with state agencies federal agencies, a lot of public meetings, which can be a challenge. You know, you've got a contaminated property literally in someone's backyard and they have concerns rightfully so. But the trick is to educate the people who don't understand the science as to what we're doing and power doing it and how it's being protective of human health, public welfare and the environment, so that we can we can take this property and put it to better use.
LJR: Ultimately, make it better. Yeah. So that is a long career in one place but stability seems to, in that area seem, to be balanced out other things in your life. So do wanna tell us about the trajectory of what was going on with you.
DL: Sure sure so you know, like I said, my wife factors of this in heavily in everything that I do. I met her at the company that I'm currently employed at. She was here at the time. She's no longer at this company. We had you know kind of the nod and smile relationship in the hallway. But we never really connected until we were both doing a charity bike ride. It’s the Pan-Mass challenge. It was a 200 mile bike ride to raise money for the Jimmy Fund which is the cancer Institute of Dana Farber. It goes from Sturbridge, Mass to Provincetown, Mass, which anyone who knows Cape Cod knows that that's just a long way up and around. My company sponsored a team. There were probably 15 or 20 of us. I thought I was a hot shot. I, you know, took off with the fastest guy on the team and 20 miles in, we just get to this massive hill. He drops me like a rock and I’ve got you know I’m rising myself. And I'm like I don't think I can do 180 miles alone. So I pull them to the next water stop and wait for more people on the company to show up. And Michelle and a few other people show up. And Michelle and I just got to talking and spent the next hundred and 80 miles just talking and by the end of it, I was completely smitten and you know we started dating few weeks later, and the rest is history.
LJR: It could have been a really long ride had had you not been smitten. I guess.
DL: Yes. Definitely. And then the real turn comes in Labor Day weekend 2004. We’d bought a house in a small town in Massachusetts a few years before and I was up on a ladder nailing in a rake board that had come loose from the roofline, so 25 feet up. I didn't realize that there was a hornet's nest that had kind of built itself into the attic behind the board. So I'm sitting there hammering away and the hornets came. And I stepped backwards. So fell 25 feet. Hit the ground, broke my back, crushed my spinal cord, and knew instantly when I woke up that that was it. That I had just changed my life yeah. So give me a second. I still tear up after…it's been 18 years and it's still hit me.
LJR: Yeah understandable.
DL: But I spent two weeks. I was med-flighted to Beth Israel Hospital. I spent two weeks there. Was operated on. Had my spine stabilized and then spent a month and a half at Spaulding Rehab in Boston and those folks just put it back together. Taught me how to live my life again. So I'm eternally grateful to them. But yeah. I’m paraplegic. For the doctors out there it's T8-Asia A. So no feeling, no movement below you know mid-waist and I've lived the last 18 years in a wheelchair.
LJR: And not just you. This is a family affair, you had…you were expecting a child, then, right?
DL: Yes, yes, my wife was four and a half months pregnant when I fell. And so you know I fell, like I said, in the beginning September I got home from the hospital at the beginning of November. And you know that the next month just miserable. You know just you know just a very difficult time. And so we were plugging along trying to get things back on track. I haven't even learned how to drive it because you have to drive not within controls. You know, early on the morning on early morning in December, my wife wakes me up and says, I don't feel good like okay well let's know what what's going on, we talked it through and we had this checklist of preterm labor symptoms. And she's like I’m fine I’m fine, just go back to bed. I was like Shell, you've got seven of the 10 symptoms of pre-term labor; something's going on. So I call the doctor, she said why don't you guys come in. My wife was actually going to drive herself, because I wasn't driving yet. [LJR: Right.] I'm like, no that's not going to work, you know. Luckily my parents live close by, so you know my dad comes over. We throw the wheelchair in the car, we throw me into the car, we throw my wife in the car; we fly to Boston. We get there and about 15 minutes later my son is born. That quick, you know. We had taken one birthing class. We had no idea what to expect. They were, you know, in the process of assembling a team of doctors to tell us what might happen, and all of a sudden my wife’s water breaks and it's quick labor and I’ve got a son.
LJR: Wow.
DL: He was 29 weeks so you know very early. Three pounds. [LJR: ooh] So just a little peanut. But, you know it changed everything. ‘cause suddenly, you know, I had focus. It wasn't just about me. It was you know holy crap I've got a kid, let's you know get your act together and start living life.
LJR: Yeah.
DL: So he spent about two months in the NICU himself. So 2004 like end of 2004 beginning of 2005 a ton of time for the Leone family in the hospital. But he was you know from day one, it was improvements. So here we are, from a three pound, 29 week baby…he's now 17 years old he's like six foot two. Taller than I ever was you know. Straight A student. No health problems, no eye problems, no breathing problems and none of the things that you typically expect with you know, a baby born that small and it's just you know, it's a miracle.
LJR: Yeah and a miracle to you. As you said, it wasn't just about you anymore, it was about you know, giving focus to bringing this person into life and yet at the same time, while you're you know pushing him into the world you do need to get your life back on track. So you have already said that you’re at the same firm. How did the firm adjust or help you adjust? When were you able to throw yourself back into work? All of those things.
DL: So the company was fantastic. I mean they were they were great from day one, you know they. You know that there was a banner up in the entrance way to the company, to the main entrance way, the very first work that after I fell just said you know “We’re with you Dave” and everyone in the company signed off on it, brought it into the hospital. I had my hospital room with me. I still have it it's rolled up and not in the in my closet. But the company made it clear from day one that you know, there was a spot for me that you know they we make this work we figure it out. And it was actually…it was…it’s an odd concept, but it was good timing. Because at the time I was transitioning from doing a lot of fieldwork to doing a lot of project management office based work. That just accelerated that transition. So you know now you know most of my work was was going to be office-based, which, you know it worked out well. Most of my work and I was still office-based, but I do a lot of site visits um you know when you're doing environmental remediation you've got to be on site and, from time to time, so we made that work and I found workarounds from the wheelchair, and there are some places I can't get to and some places, I can. There nowadays having cell phones and facetime and all of that has been hugely beneficial. But I’m going to come to Reunions in a wheelchair. And there was an article in the alumni magazine back in 2004 that said hey, this is the accident, this is what happened. I don't know how many people read that. I don't know how many people remember that. But it's unavoidable. I'm in a wheelchair, it is really really obvious. So I appreciate the opportunity to tell my story now. Hopefully it means that I don't have to tell it 45-50-60 times during reunion. [LJR: Right.] Because to me, it's been 18 years. I’m used to this. This is just part of life. Do I enjoy it? No. It sucks. But I found, you know, great work arounds. So I still get around and I, you know, still, you know, have a great family and have a great job and a good career and you know go on lots of fun vacations and you know I coached my kid’s soccer team for a while. I’m doing all of those things that you know as a dad and you know just as, hell as a Dartmouth grad I should be doing. I try not to let the chair get in the way. And you know, most of the people around me I think they've stopped seeing it. You know, stopped seeing the chair. But it's the new people, its people I haven't seen for a while, that get too hung up on it. And it’s just you know: Don't get hung up on it. I’m over it. I’ve dealt with it. Let's move on.
LJR: Right. Yeah Cause inside it's the same Dave.
DL: Exactly yeah.
LJR: Yeah so kind of going back to that 22 year old Dave who had found what he liked on the pages of the ORC or whatever and didn't really know how to use it. If you kind of said, like look at this span of a career and the building of this family and all of that would he go oh that makes sense, and I can see how that works out and kind of from who I was is this chemistry-interested kid? Or is it all, just like you look at it and you shake your head?
DL: I shake my head. I have no idea how I got here, you know but it's worked. I started out as a field tech in this company, the lowest position possible and i'm now you know associate principal and, you know, part owner and you know doing great. I honestly think most of it's been dumb luck, but it's worked out.
LJR: Yeah well dumb luck and surrounding yourself with you know family of all kinds, who clearly care about you and…
DL: Yeah. My wife has definitely a driver arm and our she she keeps pushing me she does not let me feel. You know doesn't tolerate when I feel badly for myself, and you know just kind of as always said, you know just been a buck up, you can do it keep going. So I think I could do this with other.
LJR: Yeah yeah. We all need those people in our lives, I think. Well, Dave, we really appreciate your sharing this with us. We can't wait to hear what the next kind of empty nest is going to be, if your son was the one that gives you focus, who knows what will be the thing to drive you into the next chapter. But we really appreciate having you here.
DL: Of course, and the whole empty nest thing, it's funny. With covid, you know, families were pushed back together and spent a lot more time with each other. And you know I’ve got friends co workers who kind of struggled with that.
DL: My wife and I loved it, you know we have a blast together we so really enjoy being with each other, we spent a lot of time walking the neighborhood, talking, chatting so it gives me hope that you know another year or so and my son goes to college we're going to be okay.
LJR: Yeah yeah. I’m sure you're gonna be okay. It seems like that you're made for that. Well, thanks again.
DL: Thank you.
LJR: That was Dave Leone, who is Associate Principal at GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. in Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife and son. He is a geologist with over 20 years of experience performing hazardous waste site investigations and remediation work at state-regulated hazardous waste sites. He and his wheelchair are headed back to Hanover in July to see how everyone else has both changed and stayed the same. I urge all members of our Dartmouth Class of 1996 to join Dave and register now through the links at Dartmouth1996.org. For all listeners, we urge you to subscribe, follow, and review our show wherever you get your podcasts and plan on joining me, Leslie Jennings Rowley, for future episodes of Roads Taken.