He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Doris Cohlmeyer Nettles Stuart. He is survived by their four children, Nancy A. Schatz of McLean, VA, Richard W. Stuart (Linda) of Kansas City, KS, Marjorie M. Eisert (Gary) of San Marcos, CA, Sally L. Stuart of Texarkana, TX, and nine grandchildren.
He will be buried at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, FL at a later date.
He was born on December 17, 1920 in Texarkana, Texas to Jefferson (Jack) Davis Stuart and Floda Jones Stuart. After graduating from Texas High School, Texarkana, TX in 1937 and a year at Texarkana Junior College he attended the US Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. He graduated with the Class of 1944 on June 7, 1943. After a brief aviation indoctrination program at NAS Jacksonville, FL, he joined the USS Savannah CL-42 which was in for emergency repairs in Valetta, Malta having been damaged in the battle for Salerno, Italy. The ship returned to Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard for major repairs in December of 1943. He was transferred to the USS Cowpens CVL-25 in the Pacific theater where he participated in six Pacific area campaigns. In 1945, after completing naval flight training, he was attached to Bombing Squadron 10 at NAS Charlestown, RI and then to Basic Training Unit-3 at Saufley Field, Pensacola, Florida. Leaving BTU-3 and after duty with VA-15 in Jacksonville, FL, he graduated in June of 1953 with Class 10 of the Test Pilot School, Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent River, Maryland and was assigned to the Flight Test Division of the Center. He married Doris Marie Cohlmeyer Nettles of Pensacola, FL in the same month. After leaving the Test Center, among other duties, he was Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron 212 at NAS Moffett Field, CA, in the office of DCNO for Air in the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Navigator and then Operation Officer of the USS Oriskany CV-34, Commanding Officer of the USS Chikaskia AO-54 and Executive Officer of the Naval Missile Center, Point Mugu, California. He retired from active duty at Point Mugu on February 1, 1970 and returned to Texarkana, TX where he was a Real Estate Broker and home builder.
He retired and moved with his wife to Pensacola, FL in February, 1993 where they enjoyed the last years of their life together.
Cremation arrangements are under the direction of East Funeral Home – Moores Lane.
Online tributes may be made at www.eastfuneralhomes.com.
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