Beverly J. (Shillington) Coombs (1926-2019)

COOMBS, SHILLINGTON, PLETCHER, TAMASHUNAS, SCHWARTZ, BURT, BICE, KERN, SHELL, MECHEM, SIMMONS

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 6/6/2019 at 18:56:00

Obituary from Ewing Funeral Home & Monument Company, Dows, Iowa.

Beverly J. (Shillington) Coombs, 92, of Ames and formerly of Dows, passed away on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at The Waterford Assisted Living in Ames.

Funeral services for Beverly Coombs will be held on Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 10:30 AM at the Dows United Methodist Church, 101 East Northrup Street in Dows, with Pastor Shawn Hill officiating. Burial will take place at Fairview Cemetery in Dows.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM at Ewing Funeral Home, 100 North Lee Street in Dows, and will continue one hour prior to services at the church on Wednesday.

Memorials may be directed to St. Croix Hospice, Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), or Dows United Methodist Chuch.

Beverly Jean Shillington, daughter of Earl “Jackson or Jack” Shillington and Ada (Pletcher) Shillington, was born on a farm in Wright County on October 3, 1926.

Bev was the second of four children in the family. While growing up, she lived the country life (all but a short time that they lived in Eagle Grove and then in Clarion) and moved with her family several times living on rented farms around Clarion, Galt and Coulter. Bev’s parents eventually purchased the farm near Coulter and it became the home farm. She helped her dad with the outside chores and field work. After attending country school in Wright County and in Clarion, Bev graduated from Dows High School in 1944.

Bev married Harold Coombs November 29, 1945. Together they farmed in Franklin County for many years where they raised their children, John and Nancy. Bev loved farm life. As they got closer to retirement age, Bev & Harold joked that together they made one good farmer. Bev and Harold moved from the family farm to Ames in 2001.

Bev had a friendly and outgoing personality and enjoyed her many friends. As a member of the Methodist Church in Dows, she was a very active member and served in many ways. While on the farm, she was a member of a neighborhood club for many years. After Bev moved to Ames, some of those club members would drive to Ames, pick her up and drive her back to the neighborhood club meetings. In Ames, Bev volunteered at Mary Greeley Medical Center. Bev was a resident of Waterford at Ames Assisted Living Facility since fall of 2015 where she developed a close relationship with many of the staff including the St. Croix Hospice staff who took care of her.

Bev will be greatly missed by her children, John (Beverly) Coombs of rural Latimer and Nancy Tamashunas of Ames; as well as her grandchildren, Jennifer (Brian) Schwartz, Jill (Derek) Burt, Sara (Brandon) Bice, Michael (Sharon) Tamashunas, Andrew (Emily) Coombs, Amy (Kyle) Kern and Laura (Nickolas) Shell; eleven great-grandchildren; sister, Delores Mechem; two nieces and two nephews. We all have our precious memories of her.

Preceding her in death are her parents; husband, Harold; sister, Janice Simmons and brother, Larry Shillington.