Tommy Mize, Installation Management Command-Europe director, pins the Superior Civilian Service Medal on David Mattingly, who ends a 38-year federal career as the IMCOM-Europe Assistant Chief of Staff for Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

From left, IMCOM-Europe Command Sgt. Maj. Samara Pitre, Lynn Mattingly, David Mattingly, and Tommy Mize, IMCOM-Europe director, pose with a gift presented to Mattingly upon his retirement from federal service.

SEMBACH, Germany – In 1984, just two years after beginning his federal career, a young hockey-playing physical activities coordinator from Fort Detrick, Md., came to Grafenwoehr, Germany, and never looked back.

On Tuesday, that 38-year career came to an end, when David Mattingly retired from his last position, as the Installation Management Command-Europe Assistant Chief of Staff for Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation.

“Dave has spent the youth of his life in service to others,” said Tommy Mize, IMCOM-Europe director, to a physically distanced but socially connected audience gathered to mark the occasion here, before addressing Mattingly.

“Dave, you have literally touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans. You are a person who cares,” Mize said.

After his beginnings at various installations, for roughly the past three decades, Mattingly held leadership positions in several community activities and FMWR programs at U.S. Army Europe, IMCOM-Europe, and its predecessor, the Installation Management Agency-Europe.

“The more Dave worked at MWR, the better he became,” said Greg Holzinger, the U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden FMWR director and longtime friend and colleague who gave keynote remarks during the ceremony.

Among the projects he spearheaded were the fuel ration cards in use today throughout Germany, retirees’ access to FMWR facilities and programs, and the IMCOM-Europe Entertainment Tournament of Plays, or TOPPERS.

Mize and IMCOM-Europe Command Sgt. Maj. Samara Pitre presented Mattingly and his wife, Lynn, with the Superior Civilian Service Medal, IMCOM-Europe and garrison coins, certificates of retirement and appreciation, mementoes, and a special certificate from a German hunting-and-fishing organization.

“It’s a joy to come to work every day,” Mattingly said, before thanking the IMCOM-Europe team for the ceremony.

“I appreciate this so much. We’re a model for how to treat people with dignity and appreciation,” he said.