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28 The Nevada Traverse Vol.51, No.3, 2024NALS Remembers Kelly Russell %u201cRusty%u201d Combest (Dec 1967 %u2013 Aug 2024)Thoughts from Justin Moore, PLS:Where to start%u2026 Rusty was a patriot %u2013 100%, I suspect that came from his father who retired after 20+ years in the Navy and inspired Rusty to join the Navy (Hooyah!). After graduating from Wooster in 1986. Rusty wanted to be a Navy Seal and even entered the B.U.D.S. program. Though he did not graduate from B.U.D.S., he was very proud of his 4 years of service in the Navy.After the Navy, Rusty moved back home to Sparks, where he went to work for his mom and stepfather (Val & Barry Hickerson) at Tri-State Surveying. Barry was Rusty%u2019s greatest mentor in life, business, and surveying. He encouraged Rusty to utilize his GI Bill and attend college, which Rusty did. Rusty graduated from the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) in 1997 with his Bachelor of Science in Land Surveying. Upon graduation, Rusty once again returned to northern Nevada and continued working with his parents until they sold their business in 1998. Rusty then moved over the hill to work with his friend Carl C.de Baca at a small but growing firm%u2026 Wood Rodgers. In 2003, the Wood moved into Reno and wanted local connections, so Rusty moved back to Sparks to help start up their Reno office. He received his license (NV-PLS 16444) and was running their GPS department. Rusty was a real badass; especially in the eyes of a 24 year old kid with a similar military background and future aspirations of licensure himself. Rusty was a Trimble Certified Trainer and a wizard at Trimble TGO (retro version of TBC for you younger readers). This is in an era where GPS was exploding, and Rusty was on top of all the cutting-edge technology.As I mentioned earlier, Barry Hickerson was Rusty%u2019s greatest mentor. He would often seek his advice about career paths and life%u2019s opportunities. Barry was a strong believer in entrepreneurship, which inspired Rusty to leave corporate life in 2005 and enter a partnership with his old friend from the Tri State Days, Greg Bigby. Greg had an established firm, Bigby and Associates, and the partnership with Rusty grew the firm to new heights until the Great Recession in 2007. Rusty and Greg scratched, clawed, borrowed, financed, re-financed, cashed out, and sold their souls to the devil to keep their staff employed, paid, fed, and housed while they themselves were forfeiting paychecks, skipping bills, and foreclosing on a house. I mention those personal details because I was one of those employees that their personal sacrifices directly impacted. Coming out of the recession was a transition period for everyone in our industry. In 2012, Rusty stepped away from Bigby and Associates and worked for a couple of years between Lumos and Associates and NV Energy. In 2014, Rusty had started working for Odyssey Engineering, (a firm located in Sparks with ties to Tri State and Barry Hickerson). It was a natural fit for Rusty; he would always refer to himself as an %u201cold lab on the front porch%u201d because he wasn%u2019t going anywhere%u2026and he didn%u2019t. Odyssey Engineering is where Rusty (age 56) will hang his hat (or leave his car hood), sign his last map, and set his last monument... Above is a brief eulogy of Kelly Russell Combest, PLS for those of you that may not have known him professionally. Below is a brief eulogy of %u201cRusty%u201d Combest my best friend. There are many people in our lives that shape who we are and life events that will change us forever. Tuesday, Aug 20, 2024, at 12:45 pm was one of those days for me. That is when I was told the dreaded words that no wants to hear about a loved one %u201cI%u2019m sorry, but he%u2019s gone.%u201d Let me put this into context, Rusty is my best friend of 21 years. We met in 2003 while working at Wood Rodgers, I was prior Air Force and that was an instant connection. We soon learned that we had many other passions in common to include hunting, golfing, fishing, guns, politics, and beer. Rusty was 10 years my elder and someone I inspired to follow. He was a young, licensed professional that was extremely knowledgeable in a fairly new technology called GPS. I had limited GPS experience and Rusty was going to show me the ropes. In true Rusty fashion, he told me to pick up a 6-pack of Coors Light after work and we would hang out in his office, and he would work with me on GPS and TGO. I was so excited that I had found a %u201cmentor%u201d that I called my wife to tell her I%u2019d be home late that night because I was going to learn GPS from Rusty. I called her later that night to come pick me up from the office, turns out he meant a 6-pack for each, not to share!We quickly began hanging out together outside of work. I was married with a young son and one on the way, you could imagine my wife%u2019s feelings when I started hanging out with this bachelor. However, she quickly realized after hanging out with Rusty a few times that he was a lot of fun and not a risk to our marriage. In fact, a couple times she tried to play love connection with Rusty and some of her friends. One particular %u201cblind date%u201d we set Rusty up on was to be a group date. We all went out to dinner and had an enjoyable conversation and after dinner we decided to continue the evening at our house. We sat at our kitchen table and played drinking games till about 1 am. Since the whole group was in no condition to drive, we offered our spare room and couch for them to sort out and I went to bed. I remember thinking how great of a night we all just had and how Rusty and %u201cthis friend%u201d really made a solid connection. The next morning (really only a few hours later), I woke up and was in our kitchen when %u201cthis friend%u201d came out of the spare room with that glow from the night before and asked me %u201cDo you know where Rusty is?%u201d She had not seen him since they went to sleep; I was baffled. I went outside, and Rusty%u2019s truck was gone, he had left sometime in the middle of the night because he needed to %u201ctake care of his dogs%u201d. That was the last time we set Rusty up on a blind date. Too many hunting memories together. I cannot open that box right now, but someday ask me about Rusty%u2019s antelope hunt and his 7mm.Rusty was with me during the worst days of my life. It was in 2008 and in the matter of 10 short months I went through a devastating divorce, I lost my job, my house, and my car; the only thing that kept me alive during this time was my kids. Rusty and Greg offered me with a job at Bigby & Associates when NO other job existed. Rusty would take me to lunch daily because he knew I didn%u2019t have the money for a lot of groceries on the weeks I didn%u2019t have my kids. Rusty would slide me cash to cover rent on those super tight months even though it meant he would be skipping his house payment that month. He would tell me %u201cTake it, you have kids.%u201d My sons and daughter know Rusty as an uncle, my wife, Angela, knows him as my brother, and my parents call Rusty %u201cmy second wife,%u201d which is funny because Rusty was there the first day I started talking to Angela. He helped us move in together, he was there when I proposed to her, and Rusty stood by my side as my best man when I said, %u201cI do%u201d. He would always tell me %u201cYou got a good woman right there%u201d And he%u2019s right.