Dave Lefave:
CLASS OF 1977
Cumberland Valley High SchoolClass of 1977
Mechanicsburg, PA
Parsons School of DesignClass of 1994
New york, NY
Dave's Story
Hi,
When I dropped out of Cumberland Valley during the 10th grade, I became a junior volunteer fire fighter. Being a fire fighter, and the possibility of driving a fire truck had always been my dream. I spent the next 2 1/2 years as a member of the Hampton Twp Volunteer F.D. Then in May of 1977, my family moved to Huntington Beach, CA. I applied for a job with the Huntington Beach Fire Department, and they accepted my application and sent me to Santiago Community College to begin studys in Fire Fighting Technology. Unfortunately, about 3 months later, something called Chapter 13 was voted in, which eliminated many government positions, including interns for the fire departments. So for the next 14 years in CA, I volunteered when I could to fight forest fires in Riverside County. During those years, I moved through several job, mostly truck driving jobs. Then I took a shot at a sales position with a company that sold dental office equipment and supplies. I was with that company for 9 years. In 1985, I started dating my downstairs neighbor, who would later become my loving wife. We've been married for 21 years already. During 1989 to 1991, I went to a part time position in the dental supply company so I could go back to school. I went to a junior college where I earned my A.A. degree, and then transferred to Cal State, Fullerton, where I completed one semester in Fine Art Photography. In 1991, my wife had a fantastic offer in her company to move up to a Global Sales Mgr position, on the condition that we had to move back to the East Coast. We moved to Northern NJ. The first thing I did was join the local Volunteer Fire Department. I was with them for 9 years, ending with 5 years of driving a fire engine. I fulfilled my childhood dream. When we moved to New Jersey, my wife and I agreed that I should complete my education, and so I applieid to Parsons School of Design, The School of Visual Arts, and Pratt Institute...all in New York City. I was accepted at all three, and chose to go to Parsons, which I graduated from, earning a B.F.A. in Fine Art Photography. Over the next four years, I was a photojournalist for the New York Times, the New York Daily News, and the Village Voice. I found it to be quite difficult because I would get bombarded with work for weeks straight, and then nothing for a week or a month or 2 months. That's the life of an independent (stringer) photojournalist. So I decided to go back to sales. I accepted a job at Eastman Kodak as an Account Executive, where I worked for 5 years. During my time there, in 1994, my wife and I decided to adopt a baby girl from Ch...Expand for more
ina. My wife was unable to have children due to medical issues far in the past, and we really wanted to have a daughter of our own. So in April of 1995, I flew to China, where I spent eleven days going through the process of adopting our daughter to be. It was the best thing we ever did. Unfortunately, my wife was not able to go with me because two weeks before our flight, we found out my wife had bone cancer. She started chemotherapy the day I stepped in the plane to China. She went through almost two years of chemo, and has been fine ever since. Thank God! So, one day at my company, I was told by my manager that the company was down-sizing, and I was involved. I was there for 5 years. So I moved on, searching Monster.com for jobs. Luckily, jobs were plentiful. I narrowed down my job offers to three companys, and finally accepted a position at DHL Express as an International Sales Account Executive. I remained there as an International Sales Account Executive and Sales Trainer until 2004. I did well enough that in 2003, DHL sent me, along with 80 other Sales people from around the world, to a 10 day, all expense paid vacation in Russia. We went to Moscow and St. Petersburg. They treated us like royalty. It was the greatest experience I ever had. I had experienced health issues during those years at DHL, and found myself going to dialysis treatments 3 nights a week for kidney failure. In October, 2004, I received a kidney transplant. Four months later, my company offered me a package I couldn't resist. This gave me the opportunity to be home with my then 10 year old daughter as Mr. Mom. That has worked out well. My daughter has been into equestrian competition for several years, and this allowed me to help her to get to where she is today...an expert rider, and an excelled member of the United States Pony Club. We have our own horse, who is great. He will take on any challenge we throw at him. I ride him too, but only on trails. We have decided I will remain as "retired", so I can continue to help my daughter pursue her dreams in the horse world. My wife's company has offered her a new Regional Sales Manager position, with the option to live anywhere in the Central or Mid-West states. We have decided on Lexington, KY. This will give our daughter the best of the horse world, and the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, is a top school of horse medicine, which my daughter intends to be for her career. Also, it's beautiful there, and we're going to love living there. Life is good. I wrote this biography on 8/9/2008, and will update it as my life progresses. God bless you.
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