PINCKARD…Mr. Bobby Joe Rains, Sr., a resident of Pinckard, died early Sunday morning, August 23, 2026, in Westside Terrace Healthcare in Dothan. He was 86.
Graveside services will be held at 10:00 A.M. (E.T.), Saturday, August 29, 2026, in Marseilles Cemetery, West Point, Georgia with Reverend Dr. Ronnie McBrayer officiating. The family will receive friends following the graveside. Fuqua Bankston Funeral Home of Ozark is in charge of arrangements.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Shriner’s Hospitals, Scottish Rite Children’s Hospitals, or to the American Cancer Society.
Mr. Rains was born, July 24, 1940, in Middlesboro, Kentucky, to the late Garnet and Delphia Rains. The second of six children, he was a hard worker from his earliest days with paper routes, grocery deliveries, working at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville selling peanuts and cokes at Tennessee football games and he even built a complete bedroom suit in wood shop at 15 years of age. He was very mechanically inclined and took his skills to the US Air Force in 1959 where he was assigned to a B-52 squadron at Robbins AFB in Georgia.
In 1961 he met his future wife at a USO club dance and in 1962 he began a sixty-one-year marriage to Barbara Ruth Bennett. He also spent part of 1962 riding herd as the crew chief on a B52 carrying four nuclear bombs as his squadron flew missions toward the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis. In 1963, following the birth of his son, Bob decided to pursue a civilian career and was promised a job in Atlanta with Eastern Airlines as a mechanic, only to be told upon arrival that they couldn’t hire anyone due to the economy. But the hiring manager gave him a place where he might find work in a little town called Ozark, Alabama. Neither he nor the hiring manager knew where Ozark was, so Bob quickly bought several maps and found his way to Ft Rucker that week. As fate would have it, the civilian contractor, Paige Aircraft, hired him and he started a forty-year career at Cairns Field working on helicopters.
He and Barbara were blessed with a daughter in 1965 and relocated to Dothan in 1966. Eventually Bobby was offered an opportunity to work in management and in 1976 he took it. 4 years later in 1980, he was assigned one of the most important roles of his career…. he was tasked with assembling a crew, going to Arizona and under the direction of then Major Richard Cody (later Army Vice Chief of Staff and Lt General Cody a confidant and friend) to modify helicopters for a hostage rescue attempt in Iran. Though the mission failed, the Army, with the help of Bob and his team, learned from the failures and all future helicopters like the Blackhawk and Apache were modified to withstand the rigors of desert warfare based on that experience.
After his children, Bobby and Donna, finished high school, Bob and Barbara began to square dance. They joined the local “Goober Gamboleers” Square Dance Club, earned their certificates in both square and round dancing, so they began traveling to other area clubs on the weekends to participate in dances. In 1986 they made another big move literally and purchased a new home with some land in Pinckard to get away from the city (and that statement cracked me up). They continued to lead square dancing and went to state, regional and national conventions. Bob’s in-laws, Joan and Edmond Tingle also attended, and these four travelled all over the US to dance. It was fun period for all of them, until Edmond became ill in 1995 and passed in 1996.
Bob retired in 2003 and, sadly, a year later, on his birthday weekend, lost his daughter Donna. It was a difficult time. He and Barbara spent a lot of their free time fishing at Lake Eufaula with family. In addition to fishing, Bob and Barbara loved to garden and had a fairly large garden dating back to their time in Dothan. Green beans, peas, okra, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes in abundance came from their efforts, and they always gave away more than they kept. Barbara instigated their in-house pickle and jelly making efforts, but Bob was always by her side to help.
Though he spent a large portion of his adult life away from church, his mother and grandmother had instilled a deep believe in God at an early age. He and Barbara joined the Pinckard Methodist Church and were regular attendees. Bob rededicated his life to Christ in 2021 and was re-baptized that year.
Surviving relatives include his son, Bobby Rains, Jr. (Louisa), Pinckard; sister, Phyllis J. Greatorex (Richard), Knoxville, Tennessee; three brothers, Jim Rains (Regina), Knoxville, Tennessee, Eddie Rains, Gary, Indiana, and Lynn Rains, Houston, Texas; grandson, Matthew Rains; nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Bob and Barbara were both diagnosed with cancer in 2019 and Barbara passed in 2023 from complications arising from Covid and her cancer treatments. Bobby’s cancer remained in control for seven years thanks to the efforts of Dr. Krishna Basarakodu and his amazing team at Southeast Health Hematology & Oncology. From the front desk to the nurses and technicians, to both Dr K along with his partner and wife, Dr Valsareddi, he was very well cared for! We also want to thank the team at The Terrace at Grove Park and at Westside Terrace for their kindness and care during his final years.
You may sign a guest register at www.fuquabankston.com
