Obituary of Gregory Bedell Dozier Rust

Gregory Bedell Dozier Rust, age 79, passed away on January 1, 2019, in Pensacola, Florida. He was born in Corpus Christi, Texas on April 28, 1939 to Anna Lee Smith and Gregory Bedell Dozier. Greg was raised in Birmingham, Alabama and graduated from Shades Valley High School. He went on to study engineering at Auburn, was in the Navy ROTC Program, and was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. In 1961, he began his Navy career attending Navy Flight Officers Training Program at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. After becoming a Naval Flight Officer (NFO), he was selected for Patrol Aircraft (P-3s) as his primary aircraft. After 10 years as a NFO, he transferred his designator and became an Aeronautical Engineering Duty Officer. His multiple duty stations included NAS Corpus Christi, VP-30, VP-49, VX-1, VP-5, COMPATWINGSPAC, and NADC, Warminster. Upon retirement in 1981, he worked for RCA as a project engineer on the AEGIS Spy-1 Radar System. Greg and his wife of 31 years, Nancy Sisson, moved back to Pensacola from Ft. Worth, Texas in 2012 to be closer to family, the water, and the Navy community. Greg was passionate about Nancy, gardening, sailing, sports cars, and watching Auburn win. He is preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Dian Wells and the mother of his three daughters, Virginia (Hollon). He is survived by his wife, Nancy; three daughters, Michele McAloon (Brendan) of Fairhope, AL, Charlotte Fibbe (Jim) of Mobile, AL and Jennifer Rust (Bruce Lahood) of Marietta, GA; his sister, Elizabeth Oberholtzer and eight grandchildren. A funeral mass will be held at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 10650 Gulf Beach Highway, Pensacola, FL 32507 at 10:00am on Saturday, January 5, 2019. Greg will be interred at Barrancas National Cemetery, Naval Air Station, Pensacola, FL. There will be a Committal Service at 10:30 am on Friday, March 1, 2019. The procession will meet at 9:45am at the Olive Baptist Church-Warrington Campus, 103 West Winthrop Avenue, Pensacola, Florida 32507. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Greg’s name to the Wounded Warrior Project (www.woundedwarriorproject.org). Go Navy! War Eagle!