Barbara L. Combs

January 29, 1924 – August 12, 2017

Barbara L. Combs, 93, peacefully went home to be with her Lord and Savior Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. Barbara was born Jan. 29, 1924 in Dayton, Wash. She was the youngest of five children born to Frank and Minnie Nichols.

At 17, during World War II, Barbara worked in Portland, Ore. at the Swan Island Shipyards, first as a welder and later as a crane operator. When Swan Island Shipyards shut down toward the end of the war, Barbara was the only female crane operator to be transferred to the Oregon City Shipyards to continue working until the end of the war.

In 1947 Barbara returned to Dayton where she met and married Cydnor L. Combs, Oct. 8, 1947. They moved to Moses Lake in December of 1956, where Cydnor opened a Chevron Service Station. Barbara was a member the First Church of the Nazarene for the past 60 years.

In the early ’60s Barbara returned to school taking evening courses through Big Ben Community Collage Adult Education program, allowing her to graduated from Moses Lake High School in 1965. Barbara was an accomplished seamstress; she enjoyed crocheting, quilting and other intricate needlework.

In retirement Cydnor and Barbara enjoyed yearly trips across the United States, including Alaska, and Canada, sightseeing and visiting old friends and family.

Barbara was preceded in death by her husband Cydnor and her eldest son Edward (Eddie) O. Combs. She is survived by their remaining three children Cydnor Combs Jr. of Moses Lake, Mary Jane Moore (Dave) of Vancouver, Wash. and Carol Jean Kuhn (Bob) of Oxford, N.Y.; Five granddaughters Sherry (Combs) Rodriguez, Serena (Combs) Achurra, Tayna (Combs) Robinson, Melinda (Kuhn) Fayette and Faith Moore; 10 great-grandchildren and five great-great granddaughters.