Col. Rodney "Rod" Holmes Fauser

Col. Rodney (Rod) H. Fauser, United States Air Force (Ret.), died on August 13, 2026, at the age of 93. He is survived by his beloved wife of 69 years, Helen (Lynn) Fauser; two sons and a daughter, Eric Meyer Fauser (Melissa) of San Antonio, TX, Christian Holmes Fauser (Robin), and Alexandra Ewers Fauser of Memphis, TN; and three grandchildren, Madeline Fauser, Christian Fauser, and Mary Grayson Caradine.

Rod was born in Yonkers, NY, the son of Albert Arthur Fauser and Viola Holmes Fauser. He graduated from Gorton High School in 1950 and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, in 1954. After graduation, he had a very short stint in the Army before transferring to the Air Force in 1954.

Lynn and Rod began their wonderful life together in 1957 while he was stationed at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, HI. Over the years, Rod’s Air Force career took them to eight different states, including Alaska. During his service, he taught Air Force ROTC and earned his Master of Education degree at Indiana University, and attended Air Force Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL.

In 1967, Rod was sent to Vietnam as a navigator on C-130s. Among his proudest honors was the Marine Presidential Unit Citation for his participation in the aerial resupply of Khe Sanh Combat Base during the Battle of Khe Sanh.

Rod later spent three years as base commander at RAF Upper Heyford, the number-one nuclear strike base in Europe in the seventies, before moving to San Antonio, TX, where he retired from the Air Force in 1980. In 1984, he began a new career in public housing management and became the Deputy Executive Director of the Memphis Housing Authority. He moved to Columbia, SC in 1990 to serve as Executive Director of the Columbia Housing Authority, a role he held until his final retirement in 2000.

Lynn and Rod spent two years traveling full-time around North America in their motor coach before moving to Collierville, TN, to be near their children and grandchildren. Col. Fauser joined the Collierville Police Department’s Special Citizen’s Volunteer Patrol, known as the “Gray Shirts.” He also served as a veteran volunteer with Trinity Baptist Hospice and was a member of Holy Apostles Church.

In lieu of flowers — they made him sneeze — please consider memorial donations to Trinity Baptist Hospice, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, or Shriners Children’s.

A Military Honors Ceremony will be held on Friday, August 28, 2026, at 2:00 PM at Collierville Funeral Home, 3863 Bailey Station Rd. Collierville, TN 38017.