Obituary: Combs, Clyde Frederick Jr.
Age 89
Clyde was born on March 13, 1926 in Middletown, Ohio to Clyde F. Sr., and Margaret A.
(Root) Combs.
Clyde lived the majority of his life in Spokane.
Clyde was preceded in death by his parents; his sister Betty Jane (Combs) Spies; and his brother, Jack.
He is survived by Beverly Lee (Sabin) Combs to whom he had been married for 67 years.
Clyde grew up in Middletown, Ohio.
On September 13, 1944 he was called up in the Army Air Corp (forerunner of the US Air Force) and eventually stationed at Geiger Field in Spokane, WA.
He loved to swim and spent time at Comstock Pool where he was asked to be a young woman’s pacer to help her excel at her swimming.
Beverly walked out of the locker room and into his heart.
They dated and then wrote letters after he was transferred back to Greensbourgh, North Carolina.
He was officially discharged in July of 1947.
Using the GI Bill he enrolled in George Williams College in Chicago for one quarter, but decided to transfer to Eastern Washington College of Education (now Eastern Washington University) in Cheney, WA to be closer to Beverly.
In the spring of 1948 he was elected Student Body President.
He fondly remembered trips he was paid to take to the University of Arizona and Sun Valley as part of his responsibilities.
On September 3, 1948 he married Beverly and he was the fifth student body president in a row to have been married during their terms of office.
Clyde began working for Spokane Parks and Recreation in the summer of 1948 as a lifeguard, then pool manager and eventually up to supervisor.
He continued this summer employment for 25 years.
Clyde graduated from EWCE in 1950 and went to work for School District 81 at Emerson Elementary School for three years, but a position at the Inland Empire American Red Cross tempted him away from teaching.
He became ARC’s Director of First Aid and Water Safety.
Clyde spent the next seven years in this position and loved every minute, but the lack of any retirement benefits required him to consider a career move.
In January of 1961 he returned to teaching at the newly built Shadle Park High School swimming pool as its teacher in charge of aquatics.
He remained at Shadle until his retirement in 1990.
In addition to Clyde’s teaching responsibilities he taught water safety classes after school for over 25 years to hundreds of future Spokane area lifeguards.
He could be counted on to greet student after student with, “How ya doing kid?”
“Mr. Combs,” “Coach,” “Father Fish,” wrote hundreds of recommendation letters helping young people get their first jobs, most often as lifeguards.
He will be missed.
At his request, no memorial service is planned.