Lt. Fussner was a 1996 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. Lt. Fussner was killed alongside two other sailors when her SH-60B Seahawk helicopter crashed in the Mediterranean Sea during a training flight on March 12, 2002.

Lt. Fussner was a 1992 Parkway South High School alum who graduated in the top 10 percent of her class. She was in the National Honor Society and maintained positions as a swimmer, cheerleader, and track runner. As a sophomore, she was on the All-Conference District track team. As a junior, she was on the All-State swimming team. She left swimming for cheerleading to spend even more time with her best friend; she ended up being in the state championship cheerleading squad in 1991-1992. She also ran triathlons and marathons during her free time and was elected Prom Queen her senior year.

“She was sort of the female Top Gun,” a P-3 tactical coordinator at Jacksonville Naval Station said of the late lieutenant. Lt. Fussner is survived by her parents and her husband.

Lt. Fussner was honored through the Travis Manion Foundation’s Character Does Matter program presented during the USNA’s Summer Seminar and USNA STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Camp for rising 11th graders.

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