Altha "Rusty" Breininger passed away on the 4th of July, 2020 in Winter Springs, Florida due to complications from Covid-19. She was one week shy of her 98th birthday. Altha was born as Altha LaVerne Russ (hence "Rusty") on July 11th, 1922 in Louisville, Kentucky to Henry Clay Russ and Lucy Mae Bullion. Another of her family nicknames was "Doots". She like millions of others constituted was it now known as the Greatest Generation.
Her family was large, she was one of 9 children. Her father was a butcher and her mother tended to their home and all of the children. The Russ family did not have a lot of money and were raised during the Great Depression, so times were tough for them, as it was for many Americans at the time.
Despite her modest upbringing, Rusty was very proud to be from Louisville, and always considered herself a "city gal", and rarely missed the Kentucky Derby. Rusty was a lifelong learner with a broad and kind worldview. She elected to go to a high school across town and had to take multiple city buses in order to attend J.M. Atherton High school for Girls because of its good reputation. Atherton went on to become co-ed and one of the first high schools in the country to offer the International Baccalaureate program for high school students. Their motto was and is "What you do Makes a Difference", and that is how Rusty lived her life.
Her mother died in 1939 when she was 17. Her younger siblings were sent to an orphanage, her older brothers joined the military as WWII was looming. Just after high school graduation, Rusty had been working both as a stenographer and at the switchboard of the local phone company when she decided to take the Civil Service exam which she passed with flying colors. She was selected to become a staff Secretary at what was then the Department of Intelligence for the Army in Washington DC during WWII. She was one of few staff secretaries to hold a Top-Secret clearance. She was promoted and then worked at the newly formed Strategic Air Command in the offices of General Curtis LeMay as a civil servant during the earliest days of the Cold War. She had many interesting stories to tell and often shared them with the family.
A subsequent assignment led her to Riverside, California and March Field. She was given a choice of where to go, and she said she always wanted to live in California. In Riverside, she met her future husband, Colonel Louis "Jack" Breininger, whom she met and married in 1951. Children soon followed - Deborah in 1952, Steven in 1953, and Eric in 1956. Finally, Jeff came along in 1962 when she was 40 years old.
Following the assignments of her husband and managing a large family being an officer's wife was a full-time job. World travels and assignments took her and the family to Turkey, Germany, Colorado, and Michigan, when Jack retired in 1972. Jack and Rusty subsequently set up home in Largo, Florida in 1972 where they lived the next 45 years, surrounded by children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and creating many lasting memories. Jack passed in 2013 at age 92. In 2019, Rusty moved to be closer to her son Eric in Winter Springs, Florida.
Altha "Rusty" Breininger was loved and remembered by anyone who met her. She believed in kindness and helping others who were less fortunate, and always emphasized the need for education, the arts, and contributing to society. She taught her children never to judge anyone by the color of their skin. She had a sense of humor and way of talking that left an impression on everyone she met. She loved photography and painting - she achieved the AWS designation from the American Watercolor Society and some of her paintings hang in homes and businesses around the country, including the former Barnett bank. She was an ardent supporter of causes that promoted the arts and helped to alleviate poverty. She was a founding member of the Beach Art Center. She traveled frequently with friends to attend art workshops in North Carolina and was also an amateur genealogist before the days of the internet, and spent countless hours traveling to review old records and microfiche as far away as Kentucky and Tennessee while living in Florida in the 70s and 80s. Changing with the times and always ahead of the curve, she had a cell phone, surfed and researched the internet, and drove a car well into her 90s! She had an ageless and timeless spirit. If they gave degrees for life experience and wisdom, she would have had a PhD with honors.
Altha was preceded in death by her father, Henry Clay Russ, mother Lucy Mae Bullion, brothers Gordon, Donald, Leland, Jimmy, and Bill, sisters Martha and Virginia, her husband Jack in 2013, and her son Stephen in 2004.
She is survived by her brother Bobby in Orange, CA, and children Deborah Deveau in Colorado Springs, CO, Eric Breininger in Winter Springs, FL and Jeffrey Breininger in San Francisco, CA. She is also survived by two grandchildren, Jennifer Shumaker, and Daniel Deveau, as well as 7 great grandchildren - Tyson, Harper, and Quinton Deveau and Gannon, Declan, Ronan, and Bexley Shumaker - all of Colorado Springs, CO.
She was a member of Anona United Methodist Church and is interred there at Serenity Gardens Memorial Park next to the church and with Jack and Stephen.
In lieu of flowers, Rusty would ask for donations in her name be made to either the Beach Art Center in Indian Rocks Beach, The Southern Poverty Law Center, or the campaign of Joe Biden.
Rusty had specifically requested one of her favorite poems be read at her service for which a date has not yet been set due to the current pandemic. Reflecting on the opening and closing lines now, they encapsulate how she lived her life and make perfect sense.
from "Ithaca" by C.P. Cavafy -
As you set out for Ithaca
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithacas mean.
Rest in Peace you amazing human being, friend, and mother.
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