I promise to complete this section when I can speak. Sorry for the delay! Especially because it's such a great story.

Dana’s parents Shirley Traylor and Mainard (Mel) Leach were married in Albany, Oregon on September 22, 1946. Dana was born in Eureka, California on July 1, 1950. He weighed 6 lbs 7oz. Shirley and Mel brought Dana back to his home in Oregon.

Three years later as a family they moved to Long Beach. Dana’s baby brother Alvin Leach was born on January 26, 1954.Around 1956 they moved to the bay area where both children attended Fairmont elementary school and spent summers visiting their Grandpa at the lumber mill.They both had fond memories of their carefree summers.Dana had a large group of friends back then that included Scott B and Joe B., David S, Donald K, and “the Turners boys”.

Eventually, Shirley and Mainard dissolved their marriage and Shirley moved into a place of her own with Dana and Alvin.In the same building was a tall handsome man name Williard (Bill) Hintze. They fell in love and ended up living out the rest of their days happily married.Bill had a son of his own, Douglas who became a beloved Step-Brother and Uncle in our family.

Bill and Shirley were married in 1962 and shortly thereafter they moved the whole family to Wilmington, California. Dana attended Wilmington Junior High where he met Deborah MacAlpine.  The two fell in love in Junior High.

Dana and Debbie both attended Banning High School together.  Dana loved playing sports. He played basketball, baseball, golfed and was on the bowling team. Dana dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. He actually played baseball with the minor leagues but a shoulder injury prevented from progressing to the major leagues. 

He and his friends also had a rock band in which Dana played the drums. He actually currently still has a beautiful set of drums that he occasionally played.

Dana graduated from Banning High School in 1968…with Honors of course. 

Dad was a young car enthusiast. His first car was a 1954 Chevy given to him by his Aunt. He sold it to get his 1964 Impala. This was a true show car. Decked out to the max and he was very proud of it.  Unfortunately it was uninsured and stolen from his house. He was HEARTBROKEN!  Eventually he moved on to his red Porsche, he owned a beautiful Cadillac, a 1959 Mercedes, and an an El Dorado.

Dana and Debbie got married in 1969. Debbie was a hair dresser and Dana was in college and working at Firestone. From 1969-1972 Dana enrolled in Dominguez Hills Community College and then transferred to California State University, Long Beach.  He earned his bachelors degree in business accounting. 

He joined the Airforce with the hopes to be a pilot but his eyesight was not 20/20 so that didn't work out so he landed in accounting. Dana did his first 6 months of basic training at Moffett Federal Airfield. Dana and Debbie went to Texas to Shepherd Airforce Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. At that point he did not want to reenlist so he enlisted as a reserve.

In 1973 Dana and Debbie moved to San Jose near Dana's parents where he landed his job Monsanto.  

In 1974 Carey Dianne Leach was born in Mountain View, California. The three lived together but only for a short while.  With the desire to be a successful breadwinner Dana temporarily followed his career to Missouri to work for Monsanto. Debbie and Carey stayed in Long Beach to be near both sets of Grandparents.  The distance and time changed the relationship and Dana and Debbie divorced.

Two years later, around 1977, he eventually left Monsanto and returned to Huntington Beach where he and Barbara DeLaRonde reunited. Dana decided to establish a career in real estate so he bought a triplex in Long Beach and they lived together for a 3 years. Barbara and Dana truly loved each other from that point forward, but for both of them, life took many turns before their love story played out.

Dana sold his triplex to buy his home on Lemon Street in Long Beach.  This was a sweet home where the windows were always open, 94.7 The Wave played endless smooth jazz, and the doves cooed in the morning. Carey loved to spend time there! Her and her Dad would do home improvement projects and "rock out" together!  

See the next chapter to learn what happens next...

Dana met Donna in 1983 at an Easter party.  They started dating immediately and eventually married in October 1985.  Dana and Donna enjoyed an active life, traveling often to Dana’s families in Oregon and Hawaii and Donna’s family in Georgia.  Carey made many trips with them.  Dana’s second daughter, Lauren Kathleen Leach, was born in October 1987.  Dana was happiest when he had Carey and Lauren together.  

Dana was at Georgia Tech getting his MBA when he met Karen through a mutual friend. They dated for a while before Dana met Karen's daughters Erin (12) and Megan (10). I remember being excited but nervous about meeting Dana. The moment that I saw Dana my nervousness disappeared because he had such an inviting personality. I remember him being genuinely interested in getting to know us. After the first meeting we were almost always invited on mom’s dates. We would go out to restaurants, movies, bowling, parks and many more places. We even got to meet two of Dana’s girls, Lauren and Jaime! Karen and Dana got married in August of 1998. It was important to Dana that everyone be a part of the wedding ceremony. Carey, Erin, Lauren, Megan, Jamie were all brides maids to Karen. Carey’s son Chance was the ring bearer, and oh was he a CUTIE!!! I sang the song “How Beautiful” at the wedding. I remember looking at Dana and he was definitely teary eyed just looking at all of his girls.

Dana, Karen, Erin and I moved to Wynford Colony in Powder Springs. It was very close to Donna, Lauren and Jaime. It was important to Dana that he saw Lauren and Jaime as much as possible so they spent the night a lot. I always enjoyed the times when Lauren and Jaime would spend the night because Dana would just be extra happy. We would have family dinners, play sports outside, family bike rides and often play board games. We had great times as a family, but it never was complete without Carey and Chance there. We were all so important to him and the fact that WE love him was also very important. I remember the first time I called him my Dad (which is what I will call him from now on because that IS what he is to me), the look on his face I will never forget. Dad was shocked but he was also filled with the purest of joy, his eyes watered. He asked me to repeat myself and I said “I love you dad, good night” He was shocked because it took me a year or two to accept him as my dad and not just a “step-dad”. I was not always the nicest kid, but he never ever gave up on loving me. I could never repay him for all the love he showed to Erin and I, he filled a very large void in our lives. He just loved being a dad to all five of his girls.

We went to many wonderful places and did adventurous things as a family. I remember everyone piling up in the SUV with the igloo storage top stuffed with camping supplies. We would go to a camping ground and hike up a little ways to set up camp. It would take forever for us to get the tents put together mom and dad had an air mattress while we kids had sleeping bags. I do have to admit sometimes those dad snores can sound an awful lot like a scary monster in the woods. **Giggle** Fun times listening to music on a boom box, dad telling stories, cooking over the fire, making s’mores and banana boats.

Ok so dad had this thing for skiing. He loved it, he was pretty darn good at it and he looked fantastic doing it! Dad showed us all how to ski, he was a great instructor. Lauren, Jaime, and Erin picked it up pretty good. Once we all went down one of the easy slopes, it was pretty early on in the learning process. We had just gotten to the bottom of the hill and we were waiting on Erin to join us. Erin was coming down the hill really fast and a little out of control. The miller family, as dad called them, was in the middle of the hill and Erin swoops in from the left knocks them all down. Oh goodness, the belly laugh that came out of dad was unforgettable. His whole face turned red, I think he forgot to breathe for a moment there. He laughed for a good two or three minutes before he could contain himself to go help the Millers and Erin. Also, dad never could tell that story to anyone without bursting out with laughter.

There were a couple of trips to Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, etc. in Orlando. Those were always fun. Dad would always go on every ride with us. He loved the whole experience of talking while you wait in line, the excitement of the ride, and we would always check out the family photo! We stayed at resorts with a pool so after the long day of theme parks we would go have fun and relax at the pool. He was a water bug. If there was a pool, hot tub, lake, river or ocean he was in it!

One time Dad, Karen, Erin, Megan and my grandparents went on a trip to Scotland. My dad made it a special trip for my mom because her parents were there. Dad was so gentle with them during that trip. He made sure to plan the trip around things that they could enjoy without too much physical work. He and my grandfather so enjoyed the food in Scotland; dad would have to have a bite of everyone’s dish so he could enjoy as many flavors as possible. We all had a good time, but he wished that his other girls were with him to enjoy it too. He always talked about how he missed his daughters when they weren’t around.

Around 2004 we moved to a sweet house on Corner Road. Dad loved working on that house. He was always doing something to improve it like leveling the ground, building fences, irrigation, front yard work, or painting. I was often his side kick. I enjoyed spending time with dad doing these things, I learned a lot from him about how to make your house look nice.

I have to admit Dad had a rough couple of years when we were in high school, my fault mainly. I am not going into any detail about this except to say… If it wasn’t for dad I might not have made it through high school. Dad saved my butt way too many times, and talked me off of several ledges. He had the biggest heart of anyone I have ever known. He could make any mountain problem look small and solve-able. He never put you down for what you were going through or feeling. He was just there for you, he loved you, and he made you feel safe. He never ever gave up on me no matter what! I never could thank him enough for that, I am sure he knew I was thankful for him.

Sadly, my mom and dad got divorced in 2012. Thankfully this event did not impact the relationship that dad had with Erin and I. He attended every important life event in our lives, and made it a point to reach out to each one of us Carey, Lauren, Jaime, Erin and I individually. We will each cherish these conversations, quality time, and precious memories with our dad forever.

I do not want to give away any spoilers for the next chapter so I am going to say farewell to this chapter.

(Referenced from AOFS website)

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Chief Operation/Financial Officer
Atlanta Oral & Facial Surgery, LLC 

Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Atlanta Oral & Facial Surgery Management Group, LLC

Founder and Chief Operations/Financial Officer
Zenith Dental Management Group, LLC

PRACTICE ADMINISTRATOR & CHIEF OPERATING & FINANCIAL OFFICER, BOARD MEMBER:

Atlanta Oral & Facial Surgery (AOFS) is the largest surgeon-owned oral surgery organization in the U.S. with annual fees nearing $50 million. Under Mr. Leach’s management since 1998, AOFS has grown from seven practices to 20 throughout the Atlanta area. The core business strategy developed by Mr. Leach embraces the challenges of private insurance and the centralization of administrative duties. Centralization allows the teams at the surgical offices to focus on patient care and referral communication methods. This unique centralized oral surgery capability is the basis for their oral surgery management subsidiary, AOFS Management Group which manages another 5 practices around the US. 

Mr. Leach comes from a family of farmers and lumberjacks from Oregon. He and his brother were raised by his single-parent mother in the San Francisco Bay area who served as the example of being a dedicated hard worker and respecting others. As a result, Dana and his brother both excelled in school and Dana became the first person in his family to graduate from college. He moved to Atlanta in 1989 for family reasons. He is the proud father of 5 daughters, all college graduates, 4 of which still live in the Atlanta area. He is an avid golfer, played on his college team and has golfed all over the world. He and his wife Barbara recently went through the downsizing process and moved into a high-rise condominium near the new Atlanta Braves SunTrust Stadium.

Prior to joining AOFS, Mr. Leach worked in various management capacities. He began his professional career in 1973 with a Silicon Valley start-up company, as their cost analyst, was promoted in 1975 to the international financial auditing team by the parent company in St. Louis, specializing in production cost methods.

In 1979 he switched his focus to real estate working as a managing broker in Long Beach California and was hired in1983 by Forest City Developers, Cleveland to sell their newly constructed high-rise condominium, The Skyline, in downtown Los Angeles. In 1986, when the Skyline was sold out, the Community Redevelopment funding agent, First Nationwide Savings, hired him as National Sales Manager of Real Estate Owned. In 1990, he accepted the position in Atlanta as Real Estate Disposition Specialist for the Resolution Trust Company/FDIC dealing with the disposition of assets of savings and loan failures for the Eastern Region Office. As the RTC Federal charter came to an end, HUD hired Mr. Leach as Site Director of a 390 unit apartment rehabilitation project in Atlanta.

Near the end of the HUD project Mr. Leach, while completing his MBA, met an oral surgeon classmate who was looking to grow his practice. Together they developed a business plan to make that happen. In 1998, Mr. Leach was hired to bring the business plan to reality and they formed Atlanta Oral & Facial Surgery.