David Edward Flinchbaugh, age 91, has passed away and joined his beloved wife, Heidi, who passed on in 2024.
Known as “Dr. Dave” to many, he was a physicist, aeronautics engineer and inventor, who earned many awards and recognitions during his life for his work and inventions.
David was the younger son of Louis and Lolita Flinchbaugh of Poughkeepsie, NY. He attended Union College in Schenectady, NY and graduated in 1957 with degrees in Physics and Mathematics. While on a spelunking outing with his college outdoors club, he met Heidi, who was studying at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, and it was love at first sight.
David and Heidi were married in the beautiful Vassar College Shakespeare Gardens in Poughkeepsie on Saturday, June 15, 1957. The following Sunday they drove to the President Chester Allen Arthur gardens on the Union College campus for David’s graduation. They spent their honeymoon camping in their 1957 Chevrolet station wagon in the Genessee River Valley “Grand Canyon of the East.” Heidi had made curtains and David installed electrical power for their “home on wheels.”
That summer, David worked at IBM, while Heidi finished her Master’s degree at Cornell. They then moved to Cleveland, Ohio where Heidi would work at Silver Cross Hospital while David continued to study at the Case Institute of Technology (now Case Western Reserve University). He completed his PhD in Modern Physics at the University of Connecticut in 1964, focusing on Atomic and Nuclear physics.
Heidi and David remained lovingly married for more than 67 years, creating a vibrant family of two sons and two daughters. The first three children — William, Laura, and Karen — were born in Connecticut, where Dave and Heidi built their own home from the underground basement up while living in it and working. Their 4th child, Karl, was born in Orlando, after the family moved to Florida in 1968 for David to pursue employment opportunities at Martin Marietta Corp., and became involved in the “Space Race.” Among many projects, David prepared the flight plan for the first successful commercial rocket launch from Cape Canaveral AF Station, and helped to design the laser tracking system for NASA’s later Space Shuttle landings.
After leaving Martin Marietta, David pursued many different employment opportunities, including building and refining laser technology, teaching, and doing contractual work at 3 Mile Island, in PA, where he designed robotics technology to assist in the cleanup of the nuclear plant there after a partial nuclear meltdown in 1979.
Back in Orlando, David focused on inventions, filing hundreds of patents during his lifetime. His medical inventions include the “Urocycler” which allows the bladder to function normally during catheterization–preventing infections and providing other clinical benefits. He and Heidi worked hard in their later years to realize the promise of this and other inventions. He was highly honored to be inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame in 2023.
When not focused on work, Heidi and David both loved swimming in the beautiful lake near their home, as well as music. They enjoyed sharing their love of music by singing in the Messiah Choir in Cleveland, and singing in the choir at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church for many years. David also played piano and organ, and even hand-built an organ in their home. In their younger years, they also enjoyed camping and hiking and traveling, especially to National Parks and campgrounds, with their family. David made sure to teach all of his children to swim and water-ski and enjoy the water. He was infamous in their Orlando neighborhood for making a point of swimming in the lake each New Year’s Day (a Polar Plunge!). He continued to swim in the lake when safely possible until quite recently.
David was a lifelong supporter of Scouting (as was Heidi), and all 4 of their children were long-term Boy and Girl Scouts. David was proud to have earned his Eagle Scout Award, as did both William and Karl. And both Heidi and their daughter Karen earned Girl Scouting’s highest awards (the Gold and Silver Awards), as did Karen’s daughter Katherine.
One of David’s other passions was airplanes and aviation. He was a licensed single engine land and seaplane pilot and a Basic Ground Instructor and flew in 38 different aircraft models/types. He enjoyed taking his children up in a two-seater “Ercoupe” during their childhood. He also enjoyed building and operating model airplanes and collecting model airplane engines.
David is survived by his older brother Dick, and his and Heidi’s four children and their families: William (Bill) & Cori; Laura & Joel, and their daughter Charlotte; Karen & Richard, and their children Katherine & Justin, and Katherine’s daughter, Echo; and Karl & Karoline.