Anyone reaching the 20- or 30-year anniversary mark is rare enough to merit recognition at most companies today. But Dave Pflasterer took that anomaly a few decades further when he recently celebrated his half-century work anniversary at Tapestry Solutions, a Boeing Company.

Fifty years ago, Dave began his career at McDonnell Douglas, writing software for a milling machine. After McDonnell Douglas merged with Boeing in 1997, Dave became part of Mission Planning teams with Boeing/ Tapestry, serving in various roles for programs including the Tomahawk, F/A 18, F-22, and occasional periods with F-15.

Today, he serves as the F-22 Lead Software Test Engineer with Tapestry’s Mission Planning team at the company’s office in St Louis, MO.

“We are pleased to honor Dave for achieving this incredible milestone.  His dedication, loyalty and commitment to excellence has inspired others and helped grow our business,” said Debbie Churchill, vice president, Mission Products & Services.  “The consistency of dedicated team members like Dave is the foundation for our success.”

As a global leader in information management software and services, Tapestry Solutions provides mission planning solutions for military aircraft including the F-15, F/A-18,  F-22 and T-38, as well as weapons systems, bombers and unmanned air vehicles.  The company is currently developing the next generation of mission planning technology that will help the U.S. Air Force fully integrate and automate its force-level planning system.

These are among the programs that Dave has worked on over the years. Dave earned his degree in mathematics in 1965 from Union University, Tenn., in 1965; however, he did not jump into the workforce right away. Instead, he stepped up to the plate as part of the San Francisco Giants minor league baseball organization from 1965-1967, where he played for the Fresno Giants, the Lexington Giants, the Magic Valley Cowboys, and the Arizona Instructional League Giants.

In fact, Dave played alongside Bobby Bonds for the Fresno Giants and against future greats including Tony La Russa, Reggie Jackson, and Rollie Fingers. At the end of the ’67 season, he returned to St. Louis, attended Washington University, and received a Master’s Degree in Computer Science.

In 2013, 46 years after beginning his baseball career, Dave was inducted into the Union University Sports Hall of Fame. His .525 batting average still stands as the top batting average for a season at that University.

Besides his careers in baseball and software, Dave has enjoyed a happy family life. He and his wife, Sue, have three children. Hats off to Dave!