A funeral took place Thursday for David Leos, a Dallas firefighter who died from COVID-19 last week. Leos was diagnosed with COVID-19 in July and had been in the hospital since then.
In August, Leos marked his 40th anniversary with the department.
"It kind of brings things into perspective for us as a department, understanding that, as first responders, we are more so exposed than a lot of other professions," says Dallas Fire Rescue's Jason Evans.
Evans says 673 Dallas Fire Rescue employees have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic started.
At Leos' funeral, his brother, Marty, said David showed the traits a firefighter needs at an early age by always being willing to help others.
"My mom put him in charge of two younger sisters and two younger brothers. Boy was that a mistake," Marty Leos said, laughing. "But she did that because she needed him, and she depended on him."
"Dave was the ultimate prankster, and nothing scared him," another brother, Faustino, said. "In grade school, he wanted to entertain his classmates and take a bicycle up one side of a see-saw and down the other to imitate a circus tight-rope biker guy."
A fellow firefighter compared Leos to Yoda.
"I called him Yoda for a reason, and that reason was he pretty much was the elder, wise being who knew it all," Julian Costanzo said. "Instead of taking the road to instant gratification by sitting you down and lecturing, he'd simply guide you by sitting you down and making you think, starting with his signature phrase, 'listen here.'"
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