Back to Col

Biographical Information on the Lineberger and Rast Family

Submitted by Bob Rast’s brother-in-law

Robert (Bob) Lineberger [aircobra1@gmail.com]

Last Update October 1, 2010

Bob Rast was the assistant manager of the Five Points Theater here in Columbia, SC in the late 1930s. My sister, Sarah (Dolly) Lineberger, worked in the restaurant next door. Bob went over each morning for coffee. They fell in love, were married when he was commissioned. she lived with us in Wilson, NC while he was overseas. A guy in Wilson..a gunner whose name I cannot remember came home from the 97^th BG 414^th BS and told her Bob would be home in two weeks. She sat on the steps waiting everyday...a guy comes up on a bicycle with a missing in action telegraph. She cried for weeks. She had won a "Miss Wilson" Tobacco Festival beauty contest at which Bob smoked a pack of cigarettes in the early 40s. He really was a great guy. He was an assistant manager for Metropolitan Life with my brother Ted (who retired as supervisor of Florida Division of Met Life) here in Columbia. Dolly and Bob took me to Myrtle Beach when I was 15 (1946 after WWII). I wore my belly out on a rubber raft. It was my first time I saw the ocean. Bob Rast retired in Tampa, Fl. as Colonel in the Air Force. After surviving being shot down on his 49^th [B-17 bombing] mission and a helicopter crash, prostate cancer killed him. He was a retired Air Force Colonel. Bob was closer to me than my brother's by geography as I was growing up...he was indeed like a brother to me. He has three great children. His wife and he died about 3 months apart. He leaves three, children: Patti, Mark and Robert, III. Mark spent 5 years in the Navy and 15 years as an air traffic controller at the air base near Miami, FL. He is now a police dispatcher for Tampa.

I am a retired Lutheran Pastor born in Columbia, SC. Where Bob Rast was born and raised. Lived here until 10 years old. I was born in 1930 and had my 80th birthday July. I retired in 1995 after being a Pastor for 40 years. My dad was a pastor and built a Lutheran church just two blocks from where Bob Rast worked in the theater. I graduated from Lenoir-Rhyne College, Hickory, NC '52. Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary here '55. My mom taught piano all her life. She had 95 music pupils come to the house when school was not in session when she was 85. I've played trumpet since the second grade. Mom taught her six kids to play musical instruments. In the late 20s and early 30s they had a Playing Parson's Band (See photo below). They did concerts and stuff...made some change, too. My two older brothers were also Lutheran pastors. My wife of 52 years died in 2004 of colon, liver and lung cancer. The doctor missed it. He was treating her for asthma. He let her loose 27 lbs before he took the first x-ray. She died in 30 days after that. I remarried 5 years ago to a lovely lady 10 years younger. I have known her since 1990 but I hadn't seen her in 15 years. I ran into her in a grocery store. She had been divorced. She has two sons, two grandsons. She has seven brothers and sisters most in Sumter 30 miles away. One daughter lives in Cincinnati, one in Orlando, and a son in Richmond VA.

Encouraged by Rast, I got my private pilot's license in Jan. 1982. I found aircraft owners who had instructors ratings. First a 1946 J-3 Instructor and plane $14 an hour..total. 12 hours; next 1968 Cessna 150 $25 hr. 1800' strip in woods. I had a heart attack in July of that year on my 52nd birthday. I laid out for two years. (Spent 8 years as a chaplain in the Civil Air Patrol). I then got recertified for 6 months. I couldn't afford the required medical tests to keep my medical certificate updated and that's when I got into remote control models. I have four P-47's this size. They fly about 75/80 mph. All have retracts, some have flaps. They're fun for a now OLD guy. Also have a 5' span biplane Waco and Sopwith Camel. They help keep me out of trouble.

I had another heart attack July 1982 (52 yrs old..average age of male heart attack..if you ever start sweating for no reason see a cardiologist immediately .... That happened again at 78 years of age..two arteries blocked 90%..got to card. two stints..front and rear arteries..long story..).

I'm getting an article together for a reporter to put in THE STATE, a paper published here in Columbia to coincide with a B-17G that will be coming to Columbia on October 18,19, 2010 in which one of my daughters has given me a ride. It is owned by the EAA....$400 for the ride. I'm thrilled!

I'm in the ELCA. I retired in 1995 after 40 years as a pastor. My pension is now being cut 27% for 3 years during this economy mess. I was pastor in Bluefield WV 1987-89 and a geologist in my cong. showed me a lump of coal from 4000' under the surface with the impression of a fern in it!!! A sea captain in Hampton VA showed me a tooth he caught in a net that was 4000 yrs old...a molar of a mastodon from an ice berg from the silt on the ocean floor in the North Atlantic before it settled into the ocean floor...I'm fascinated with stuff like that...I wake up early and sometimes get back to sleep..call o f mother nature..leaving for Orlando at 7 this morning..it's about 5 now, I think....

I appreciate what you do for the 97..those were great men...If you ever get to Columbia look me up..if you fly here I'll let you use my car... have a '96 Pontiac with 102,000 miles on it. I'll have to drive it til it quits...I had no time..not much anyway with my wife while I worked...I was tied up on weekends and she taught school..when I retired I QUIT..we chased kids and leaves in every state east of the Mississippi .I've driven 500,000 miles since I retired..we spent a great time together since then...Was able to get a 15 year mortgage on the first home we owned here in Columbia. Had a house allowance instead of parsonage..lived in parsonages all my life. We got it paid for in April and she died in May...I sold my house and moved in with my wife. She was a nurse at the VA hospital here and was divorced before she bought this house...so her husband had never lived here..that made it good for both of us...

Bob Lineberger’s musical family in 1929 before he was born in 1930.

This is a more recent picture of my family (except for my father).

Looking at the picture, I'm on the left, back row, then from left to right, my brothers Corley, Henry, and Ted.

Front row left to right Dolly (Sarah, Bob Rast’s wife) then the older lady is my mother and next is my sister Betty.

Bob Lineberger’s children and grandchildren on his 80^th birthday July, 2010

Above and below are Bob Lineberger’s radio-controlled P-51’s with a 65 inch wingspan and capable of flying 78 to 80 mph

Bob Lineberger with his radio-controlled Sopwith Camel

Return to Col. Robert Rast’s Web Page