COOMBS, Clifford "Tom" (1925 - 1998)

COOMBS, RECKOFF, OWENS, PHIPPS, URBANSKI, DEIHL, EBAUGH

Posted By: County Coordinator (email)
Date: 6/11/2025 at 21:50:10

Clifford T. “Tom” Coombs, 73, of Warsaw, Mo., passed away Tuesday morning, Sept. 15, 1998, at the Warsaw Health Center in Warsaw, Mo. He was born near Aurelia, Iowa on July 7, 1925, the son of Clifford Charles and Nota Reckoff Coombs.

Tom grew up in Iowa and graduated from high school there. On August 23, 1943, he was in ducted into the United States Army to serve as a veteran of World War II. On May 25, 1944, he was united in marriage to Doris L. Owens at Topeka, Kan. Soon after their marriage he was shipped overseas to Europe. He was assigned to the 489th Bombardment Group of the US Army Air Corps serving as an aerial gunner on a heavy bomber. On Sept. 18, 1944, his plane was shot down over Holland, and he became a prisoner of war. He was wounded and received the Purple Heart. On June 6, 1945, he was returned to the United States to the O’Reilly General Hospital in Springfield, Mo.

Following his discharge on Dec. 10, 1945, he and his wife returned to Iowa to make their home near Aurelia. They raised horses, cattle and their family of four children. They later owned and operated a restaurant and tavern in Aurelia for about five years. In 1973 they moved to their home in Warsaw, Mo.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents, one sister, Betty Phipps, one brother, Joe Coombs and a grandson, Adam Urbanski.

He is survived by his wife Doris; one son, Tom Richard Coombs and his wife, Denise of Camdenton, Mo; three daughters, Peggy Coombs, of Dubuque, Iowa; Darla Deihl and her husband John of Warsaw, Mo; and Doreen Ebaugh and her husband Brad of South Sioux City, Iowa; three grandchildren, Chris Coombs, a student at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo.; Stacy Coombs, a student at Northwest Missouri State University in Marysville, Mo.; and Ryan Urbanski of Warsaw, Mo.; one brother Jack Coombs of Aurelia, Iowa and other relatives and friends. (Source: Former Cherokee County Historical Society scrapbook, dated Wed., Sep 23, 1998)